Quantum technologies

Quantum computers have gradually migrated from “natural” quantum objects like ions and quantum dots to “artificial” objects like transmons, where natural frequencies of LC circuit mimic energy levels. Coaxial cables attached to such circuits excite the system, read their state, and adjust their properties. They are still quantum objects and operate at low temperatures.

I wondered if a similar system can be built with large “classical” mechanical objects. Here I demonstrate 2 -qubit quantum computer built of coupled pendulums.

I explain experimental results of Bell’s Theorem by superdeterminism. I follow with insights into how such a universe may arise and be compatible with the subjective experience of free will.

In this article, I will break down all the secrets of quantum computers piece by piece: what superposition (useless) and entanglement (interesting effect) are, whether they can replace classical computers (no) and whether they can crack RSA (no). At the same time, I will not mention the wave function and annoying Bob and Alice that you might have seen in other articles about quantum machines.

The first and most important thing to know is that quantum computers have nothing to do with conventional ones. Quantum computers are analog in nature, they have no binary operations. You have probably already heard about Qubits that they have a state of 0, 1 and 0-1 at the same time and with the help of this feature calculations are very fast: this is a delusion. A qubit is a magnet (usually an atom or an electron) suspended in space, and it can rotate on all three axes. In fact, the rotations of a magnet in space are the operations of a quantum computer. Why can it speed up calculations? It was very difficult to find the answer, but the most patient readers will find it at the end of the article.

This shows the Bacon–Shor subsystem code implemented on a 15-ion chain.

Multiple heads are better than one in real world calculations. Now, a team of University of Maryland-led quantum engineers report that multiple qubits may be better than one when it comes to error-corrections.

In what’s been described as a foundational step toward using quantum computers to tackle practical problems, the team combined nine qubits — a quantum bit — to make a single, improved logical qubit. A logical qubit can be used to probe for mistakes that extremely sensitive quantum computers are subject to, according to the researchers.

In the paper, which was just published in Nature, the team write that “Although fault-tolerant design works in principle, it has not previously been demonstrated in an error-corrected physical system with native noise characteristics. Here we experimentally demonstrate fault-tolerant circuits for the preparation, measurement, rotation and stabilizer measurement of a Bacon–Shor logical qubit using 13 trapped ion qubits.”

Nine of the qubits were termed data qubits and the four remaining are referred to as ancilla — or extra — qubits. The logical qubit was based on a quantum error correction code to easily detect and correct errors and made it to be fault-tolerant, or minimize the negative effects of errors.

“Qubits composed of identical atomic ions are natively very clean by themselves,” said Christopher Monroe, who is a Fellow of the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science and a College Park Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland in a university news release. “However, at some point, when many qubits and operations are required, errors must be reduced further, and it is simpler to add more qubits and encode information differently. The beauty of error correction codes for atomic ions is they can be very efficient and can be flexibly switched on through software controls.”

If science were a dating app, quantum physics and machine learning probably wouldn’t be a match. They’re from completely different fields and often require completely different backgrounds and skills. But, throw in a little quantum computing and, suddenly, that science-matchmaking app becomes Tinder and the attraction between the two is palpable.

The unique powers of quantum computation may give humanity an important weapon — or several weapons — against climate change, according to one quantum computer pioneer.

Scientists said they were able to return the state of a quantum computer a fraction of a second into the past, according to a university press release. The researchers, who are from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, along with colleagues from the U.S. and Switzerland, also calculated the probability that an electron in empty interstellar space will spontaneously travel back into its recent past. The study came out recently in Scientific Reports.

In just a few years, quantum computing and quantum information theory has gone from a fringe subject offered in small classes at odd hours in the corner of the physics building annex to a full complement of classes in well-funded programs being held at quantum centers and institutes at leading universities.

The question now for many would-be quantum computer students is not, “Are there universities that even offer classes in quantum computing,” but, rather, “Which universities are leaders at quantum computing research.”

We’ll look at some of the best right now:

The Institute for Quantum Computing — University of Waterloo

Remember How We Started

Microsoft’s Quantum team is excited to announce the Q# Coding Contest – Winter 2019! In this contest you can put your quantum programming skills to the test, solving quantum computing tasks in Q#. Winners will receive a Microsoft Quantum T-shirt!

Quantum computing is a radically different computing paradigm compared to classical computing. Indeed, it is so different that some tasks that are believed to be classically intractable (such as factoring integers or simulating physical systems) can be performed efficiently on a quantum computer. In 2017 Microsoft introduced the Quantum Development Kit which includes the Q# programming language. Q# can be used with Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code or the command line, on Windows, macOS, and Linux.