Posted on 09/16/2010 4:43:02 PM PDT by AU72
A new photonic chip that works on light rather than electricity has been built by an international research team, paving the way for the production of ultra-fast quantum computers with capabilities far beyond today’s devices.
Future quantum computers will, for example, be able to pull important information out of the biggest databases almost instantaneously. As the amount of electronic data stored worldwide grows exponentially, the technology will make it easier for people to search with precision for what they want. EDITOR’S CHOICE Making sense of a ‘nonsensical world’ - Sep-16 Fears over computers’ impact on lives - Sep-14 Brain scan breakthrough for children - Sep-14
An early application will be to investigate and design complex molecules, such as new drugs and other materials, that cannot be simulated with ordinary computers. More general consumer applications should follow.
Jeremy O’Brien, director of the UK’s Centre for Quantum Photonics, who led the project, said many people in the field had believed a functional quantum computer would not be a reality for at least 25 years.
“However, we can say with real confidence that, using our new technique, a quantum computer could, within five years, be performing calculations that are outside the capabilities of conventional computers,” he told the British Science Festival, as he presented the research.
Computing’s great leap forward
Why quantum computing?
To make use of properties that emerge on an ultra-small scale. “Entanglement” – the ability of subatomic particles to influence one another at a distance – and “superposition” – the fact that a particle does not have a definite location and can be in several places at once – are the two most important properties.
Yes, it’s weird but why is it useful?
Because quantum particles can do very many things at the same time, unlike an electronic “bit” in conventional computing. The use of quantum particles, or “qubits”, permits parallel computing on a scale that would not be possible with conventional electronics.
What particles are you talking about?
Many scientists are working with atoms or ions trapped in ultra-cold conditions. But the latest discovery by the Bristol-led team uses photons – light particles.
How does a quantum chip actually work?
There are several models. The Bristol version sends “entangled” photons down networks of circuits in a silicon chip. The particles perform a co-ordinated “quantum walk”, whose outcome represents the results of a calculation. Of course, special software and input-output devices will have to be developed to make practical use of the device.
The breakthrough, published today in the journal Science, means data can be processed according to the counterintuitive rules of quantum physics that allow individual subatomic particles to be in several places at the same time.
This property will enable quantum computers to process information in quantities and at speeds far beyond conventional supercomputers. But formidable technical barriers must be overcome before quantum computing becomes practical.
The team, from Bristol university in the UK, Tohuku university in Japan, Weizmann Institute in Israel and Twente university in the Netherlands, say they have overcome an important barrier, by making a quantum chip that can work at ordinary temperatures and pressures, rather than the extreme conditions required by other approaches.
The immense promise of quantum computing has led governments and companies worldwide to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the field.
Big spenders, including the US defence and intelligence agencies concerned with the national security issues, and governments – such as Canada, Australia and Singapore – see quantum electronics as the foundation for IT industries in the mid-21st century.
OH NO - not something else I will have to learn. I started out in the “if you want a copy of something, don’t forget to use carbon paper” age. I still like remember all the DOS commands but this one may be the one that forces me to retire.
What I’ve read, they’re really focusing on performance. I hope so. I’d LOVE to be able to run it on my current computer. I”m also watching for the new XPlane 10 around Christmas time. It’s looking like a huge improvement as well.
BlackLight has formed a wholly-owned subsidiary company, Millsian, Inc., dedicated to developing the molecular modeling applications of classical physics (CP), solving atomic and molecular structures based on applying the classical laws of physics, (Newton's and Maxwell's Laws) to the atomic scale. The set of individual bonds between two atoms apiece of a molecule are known as the functional groups. The functional groups (Table 1) of essentially all major classes of chemical bonding including those involved in most organic molecules have been solved in analytical form. By using these functional groups as building blocks, or independent units, a potentially infinite number of molecules can be solved. As a result, Millsian software can visualize the exact three-dimensional physical structure, calculate physical characteristics of a boundless number of molecules of any length and complexity, and facilitate the engineering of new pharmaceuticals and materials at the molecular level. The results obtained in real-time match the experimental values typically to the limit of measurement.
Even complex proteins and DNA (the molecules that encode genetic information) can be solved in real-time interactively on a personal computer. By contrast, previous software based on traditional quantum methods must resort to approximations run on powerful computers for even the simplest systems. The Company believes that Millsian software represents a major breakthrough that may impact nearly all businesses involved in drug development, material science, and chemistry. Millsian plans to license its molecular modeling tool for use by a variety of industries including pharmaceutical, semiconductor, chemical, agricultural, nanotech, and any industry with products and businesses that will benefit from this improvement in molecular modeling. The Millsian competitive advantage includes rendering true molecular structures providing precise bonding characteristics, spatial and temporal charge distributions, and energies of every electron in every bond and bonding atom, facilitating the identification of biologically active sites in drugs; and, facilitating drug design. The Millsian 2.0 Beta software has recently been released, and will be initially marketed to the academic and pharmaceutical markets.
Additional types of bonding such as the ionic bond, the metallic bond, condensed matter materials, and additional major fields of chemistry given in Table 2 have been solved classically. The exact classical bonding solutions and the extension of the predictive capability as molecular predictions made by Millsian technology constitute conclusive evidence of the correctness of classical physics applied to atoms and molecules.
Almost 30 years ago I was studying computer memory cores. Sensing wires running through the "donut" cores would detect a low voltage that would translate to a "0", or a higher voltage that translated to a "1". Programming machine language based on the zeros and ones was difficult enough.
I always fantasized about building a memory core capable of sensing multiple voltage levels. Then I realized the enormity of creating a programming language based on anything other than a digital binary computer. You'd need a bunch of Einsteins programming them. We've since moved on beyond old-fashioned memory cores, but are still stuck on binary computing.
i used to date a girl who is probably still trying to figure out the billionth of a second electronic interaction between carbon, silicon and gallium arsenide. she had nao-anyliss charts wrapped around the walls of her bedroom... and livingroom.. and hallway.. and office...
it ended when she tried to start hanging them in my apartment and the roommate went freakshow.
it is indeed a fabulous universe with unlimited potential.
if only people could match the physics.
nao should have been nano.
1 1thousand second. in printout was about a yard long.
nao should have been nano.
1 1thousand second. in printout was about a yard long.
nao should have been nano.
1 1thousand second. in printout was about a yard long.
Was that a quantum post?
“pull important information out of the biggest databases almost instantaneously. “
Uhhh.....chips are already faster than disks.
You'd need a bunch of Einsteins programming them.
Maybe for writing the compilers but not for the other 99% of developers who craft web pages, data warehousing and business apps, etc.
Then there is always the emergence of functional programming languages where the developers says: "for this set of objects, do this thing under these conditions". You don't need to know how your muscles,nerves and joints work to brush your teeth. You don't even need to know how or why toothpaste works, rather you just need to know the functional high level requirements - that is where computing is today. Someone else has already done the heavy lifting in terms of translating ideas into the equivalent bits, so nearly all developers now just quilt together applications.
In my computer architecture class we did a “what if” problem trying to envision the pluses and minuses of a trinary, or quatenary (as opposed to binary) digital computer.
IIRC you could show quantitatively that you’d be slightly better off with a trinary representation in terms of certain things you could measure, but not enough to really make that much of a difference. Beyond that there were no advantages at all - in fact I think the things you could measure got worse.
So binary is optimal or near optimal, plus it’s what we’ve all come to know and love.
There goes all known encryption. It will be able to be cracked instantly now.
I’ve been watching quantum computing for years. We’ve come a long way since the first quantum logic gate was created 15 years ago to actually calculating things with quantum computers. I expect the growth to continue.
But people have too many expectations. Quantum computers are only good at solving certain kinds of problems very quickly. They aren’t suited to general computing.
One cool movie.
Know this one: Chiun: The trained mind does not need a watch. Watches are a confidence trick invented by the Swiss.
I suppose this is gonna obsolete my Commodore 64 then.
Oh great, now I will have a computer that have Quicken tell me I am broke in .000001 of a second instead of the .001 of a second it now takes. Oh I am so warm and fuzzy with the thought.
Thanks for the ping.
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