What is Quantum computing? Future of Computing?
Quantum Computers perform calculations based on the probability of an object’s state before it is measured – instead of just 1s or 0s – which means they have the potential to process exponentially more data compared to classical computers.
One that uses quantum mechanical properties to perform its calculations. These devices were first conceived in the early 1980s by, among others, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. But it was only in the late 1990s that the first rudimentary quantum computers were built by academic researchers.
Satya Nadella, the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., calls quantum computing one of three emerging technologies that will radically reshape the world, along with artificial intelligence and augmented reality. But it’s easier to describe quantum computing’s importance — that is, its potential importance, because it barely exists now — than to say what it is. Understanding quantum mechanics, whose principles underpin quantum computing, involves a lot of mental mountain climbing.
Classical computers carry out logical operations using the definite position of a physical state. These are usually binary, meaning its operations are based on one of two positions. A single state – such as on or off, up or down, 1 or 0 – is called a bit.
All computing systems rely on a fundamental ability to store and manipulate information. Current computers manipulate individual bits, which store information as binary 0 and 1 states. Quantum computers leverage quantum mechanical phenomena to manipulate information. To do this, they rely on quantum bits, or qubits.
Here, learn about the quantum properties leveraged by qubits, how they’re used to compute, and how quantum systems scale.
Rather than having a clear position, unmeasured quantum states occur in a mixed ‘superposition’, not unlike a coin spinning through the air before it lands in your hand.
These superpositions can be entangled with those of other objects, meaning their final outcomes will be mathematically related even if we don’t know yet what they are.
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