Can You Understand Quantum Computing? Microsoft Thinks So!

Pretty good, if you can get past the accent of the narrator.


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Quantum Computers Are Here!

New York Times - 5.16.13 by Quentin Hardy

Google said it had already devised machine-learning algorithms that work inside the quantum computer, which is made by D-Wave Systems of Burnaby, British Columbia.

Kim Stallknecht for The New York Times

Google and NASA are forming a laboratory to study artificial intelligence by means of computers that use the unusual properties of quantum physics. Their quantum computer, which performs complex calculations thousands of times faster than existing supercomputers, is expected to be in active use in the third quarter of this year.

The Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab, as the entity is called, will focus on machine learning, which is the way computers take note of patterns of information to improve their outputs. Personalized Internet search and predictions of traffic congestion based on GPS data are examples of machine learning. The field is particularly important for things like facial or voice recognition, biological behavior, or the management of very large and complex systems.

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Getting Closer to Quantum Computers

Wired - 3.29.13 by Klint Finley

Photo: Wylie/Flickr

Quantum computing — widely called the holy grail of tech research — has taken another step towards reality, thanks to a group of researchers at Yale University. The team recently developed a new way to change the quantum state of photons, the elementary particles researchers hope to use for quantum memory.

Today’s computers store information as bits, where each bit holds either a “1″ or a “0.” But a quantum computer is built around quantum bits, or qubits, that can store a 1, a 0 or any combination of both 1 and 0 at the same time. For example, a qubit could be 90 percent “0″ and 10 percent “1.”

So far, all we’ve seen are some proofs of concept that can do simple calculations, but a full-blown quantum computer consisting of many qubits would be able to perform complex calculations far outside the limits of even the most powerful of today’s supercomputers.

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The Promise of Quantum Computers

New York Times - October 13. 2012 by Adam Frank

Jesse Tise

THIS summer, physicists celebrated a triumph that many consider fundamental to our understanding of the physical world: the discovery, after a multibillion-dollar effort, of the Higgs boson.

Given its importance, many of us in the physics community expected the event to earn this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics. Instead, the award went to achievements in a field far less well known and vastly less expensive: quantum information.

It may not catch as many headlines as the hunt for elusive particles, but the field of quantum information may soon answer questions even more fundamental — and upsetting — than the ones that drove the search for the Higgs. It could well usher in a radical new era of technology, one that makes today’s fastest computers look like hand-cranked adding machines.



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What is Reality? BBC Horizon Video

This excellent presentation takes us from relativity and quantum theory to the very latest theories and the experiments designed to prove or disprove them. Learn about the holographic principle, which theorizes that reality is a holographic projection of information encoded at the very edge of the universe, and about the idea that reality is a giant mathematical structure. Amazing stuff.



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Quantum computers approaching

Financial Times - 9.16.10 by Clive Cookson

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.

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The universe is a giant quantum computer

New Scientist - 3.22.10 (by Seth Lloyd)

WHAT is the universe made of? Matter or energy? Particles or strings? According to physicist Vlatko Vedral's appealing new book, it is made, at bottom, of information.

In other words, if you break the universe into smaller and smaller pieces, the smallest pieces are, in fact, bits.

With this theme in mind, Vedral embarks on an exuberant romp through physics, biology, philosophy, religion and even personal finance. By turns irreverent, erudite and funny, Decoding Reality is - by the standard of books that require their readers to know what a logarithm is - a ripping good read. A bit is the tiniest unit of information. It represents the distinction between two possibilities: yes or no, true or false, zero or one. The word "bit" also refers to the physical system representing that information: in your computer's hard drive, for example, a bit is registered by a minuscule magnet whose north pole can point up or down.

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Quantum secrets soon available for the masses

Technology Review - August 28, 2009, by Duncan Graham-Rowe

Light box: id Quantique's Cerberis quantum key distribution system (bottom) with two link encryption units (above) is now widely available over dark fiber networks. Credit: id Quantique.

A new partnership will make quantum cryptography more widely available.

Quantum cryptography could finally hit the mainstream thanks to a deal that will allow customers to adopt the technology without having to install dedicated optical fibers.

Quantum cryptography--a means of keeping secrets safe by using light particles to help scramble data--has been commercially available for several years. But the technology has only been practical for governmental or large private-sector organizations that can afford to have their own point-to-point optical fiber that the technology requires. But under the new deal, struck between Siemens IT Solutions and Services in the Netherlands and Geneva, Switzerland-based id Quantique, any organizations or individuals wanting state-of-the-art data security will be able to buy the complete package of quantum cryptography and cable.

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Quantum Key Distribution moves out to 250 km

Editor's Note: In the world of communications and information, secrecy and security are paramount. Firms are always on the lookout for ways to make their security unbreakable, hence the field of cryptography. Using quantum key distribution essentially makes the sending and receiving of cryptographic keys unhackable, since any attempt to intercept the communication, because of the laws of quantum mechanics, results in that information being changed.

PhysOrg.com - July 21, 2009, by Lisa Zyga

Quantum key distribution (QKD) could be the next commercial success of quantum physics, and a recent study has taken the field a step closer to this reality. Researchers from the University of Geneva in Switzerland and Corning Incorporated in New York have demonstrated a new QKD prototype that can distribute quantum keys over a distance of 250 km in the lab, improving upon the previous record of 200 km. The scientists hope that the achievement will lead to the goal of distributing quantum keys over intercity distances of 300 km in the near future.

As the researchers explained, the purpose of QKD schemes is to distribute a secret quantum key between two distant locations with security relying on the laws of quantum physics. The idea of QKD was first proposed in 1984, and in 1992, scientists could distribute quantum keys over 32 cm, while the technology has improved from there. Despite these advances, the scientists say, the main challenge is still to achieve higher bit rates over longer distances.

To reach their new record of 250 km, the scientists made three significant improvements to their QKD technique. First, they developed a coherent one way (COW) protocol tailored specifically for quantum communication over optical fiber networks. In addition, they used an improved superconducting single-photon detector to decrease noise, as well as ultra low loss fibers made by Corning to minimize channel loss and improve the distribution rate.

By making these improvements, the physicists could distribute quantum keys in the lab at a rate of 15 bits per second over 250 km of optical fiber, or 6,000 bits per second over 100 km, with low error rates. The system is also fully automated, and can run for hours without human intervention.

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The first ever solid-state quantum processor created

Editor's note: Quantum mechanics involves the way matter and energy behave at minuscule sizes and distances. Counter-intuitive doesn't begin to describe the weirdness of this field of physics. And yet, we are able to make darned good use of it. A dream of computer scientists has been to build quantum computers that can perform far faster than conventional ones, and store far far more information. This article describes the creation of the world's first quantum processor. It's a really big deal.

PhysOrg.com - June 28, 2009

The two-qubit processor is the first solid-state quantum processor that resembles a conventional computer chip and is able to run simple algorithms. Credit: Blake Johnson/Yale University

A team led by Yale University researchers has created the first rudimentary solid-state quantum processor, taking another step toward the ultimate dream of building a quantum computer.

They also used the two-qubit superconducting chip to successfully run elementary algorithms, such as a simple search, demonstrating quantum information processing with a solid-state device for the first time. Their findings will appear in Nature's advanced online publication June 28.

For example, imagine having four phone numbers, including one for a friend, but not knowing which number belonged to that friend. You would typically have to try two to three numbers before you dialed the right one. A quantum processor, on the other hand, can find the right number in only one try.

"Instead of having to place a phone call to one number, then another number, you use quantum mechanics to speed up the process," Schoelkopf said. "It's like being able to place one phone call that simultaneously tests all four numbers, but only goes through to the right one."

"Our processor can perform only a few very simple quantum tasks, which have been demonstrated before with single nuclei, atoms and photons," said Robert Schoelkopf, the William A. Norton Professor of Applied Physics & Physics at Yale. "But this is the first time they've been possible in an all-electronic device that looks and feels much more like a regular microprocessor."

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Bringing quantum craziness to banking? - Breakthrough In Quantum Control Of Light

Science Daily - May 31, 2009

This image represents a quantum state with zero, three and six photons simultaneously. The theory is on left and the experiment is on the right. (Credit: UCSB)

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara have recently demonstrated a breakthrough in the quantum control of photons, the energy quanta of light. This is a significant result in quantum computation, and could eventually have implications in banking, drug design, and other applications.

Measuring the quantum state by counting how many photons are stored forces the trap to "decide" how many there are; but prior to counting, the light trap exists in a quantum superposition, with all three outcomes possible.

In a paper published in the journal Nature, UCSB physics researchers Max Hofheinz, John Martinis, and Andrew Cleland document how they used a superconducting electronic circuit known as a Josephson phase qubit to prepare highly unusual quantum states using microwave-frequency photons. The breakthrough is the result of four years of work in the laboratories of Cleland and Martinis.

The project is funded by the federal agency called the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, or IARPA. The government is particularly interested in quantum computing because of the way banking and other important communications are currently encrypted. Using large numbers, with hundreds of digits, encryption codes are changed daily and would take years of traditional computing to break. Quantum computing could potentially break those codes quickly, destroying current encryption schemes.

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• Computer hackers R.I.P. -- making quantum cryptography practical (scienceblog.com)
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If you can't beat it, put it inside you - Putting Everything on a Mobile Network

NYT - April 2, 2009, by Matt Richtel

There’s a theme emerging here in Las Vegas at the CTIA conference: Add mobile data capability to absolutely everything, including video cameras and the human body.

That quasi-science-fiction notion is being tossed around at the show by mainstream companies like Qualcomm and AT&T. At a lunch for the press and industry analysts on Thursday, AT&T discussed its new “emerging devices” division, which is working on wireless applications for consumer electronics devices, including game machines, electronic book readers and video and still cameras.

Glenn Lurie, president of the division, said that his group was talking to a whole range of device makers — from garage start-ups to billion-dollar companies — along with the major retailers. The business models for these devices are still developing, but Mr. Lurie said that, for example, camera owners might pay each time they send a video from the device over AT&T’s network.

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Quantum computers moving closer - Scientists make quantum leap in developing faster computers

PhysOrg.com - March 19, 2009

Scientists have created a molecular device which could act as a building block for future generations of superfast computers.

The researchers have created components that could one day be used to develop quantum computers - devices based on molecular scale technology instead of silicon chips and which would be much faster than conventional computers.

The study, by scientists at the Universities of Manchester and Edinburgh and published in the journal Nature, was funded by the European Commission.

Scientists have achieved the breakthrough by combining tiny magnets with molecular machines that can shuttle between two locations without the use of external force. These manoeuvrable magnets could one day be used as the basic component in quantum computers.

Conventional computers work by storing information in the form of bits, which can represent information in binary code - either as zero or one.

Quantum computers will use quantum binary digits, or qubits, which are far more sophisticated - they are capable of representing not only zero and one, but a range of values simultaneously. Their complexity will enable quantum computers to perform intricate calculations much more quickly than conventional computers.

Professor David Leigh, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Chemistry, said: "This development brings super-fast, non-silicon based computing a step closer.

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Another big step - Researchers Demonstrate 'Quantum Data Buffering' Scheme

PhysOrg.com - February 12, 2009

Pushing the envelope of Albert Einstein's "spooky action at a distance," known as entanglement, researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) of the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland have demonstrated a "quantum buffer," a technique that could be used to control the data flow inside a quantum computer. Quantum computers could potentially speed up or expand present capabilities in decrypting data, searching large databases, and other tasks. The new research is published in the Feb. 12 issue of the journal Nature.

"If you want to set up some sort of communications system or a quantum information-processing system, you need to control the arrival time of one data stream relative to other data streams coming in," says JQI's Alberto Marino, lead author of the paper. "We can accomplish the delay in a compact setup, and we can rapidly change the delay if we want, something that would not be possible with usual laboratory apparatus such as beamsplitters and mirrors," he says.

This new work follows up on the researchers' landmark creation in 2008 of pairs of multi-pixel quantum images (http://www.physorg.com/news132500362.html). A pair of quantum images is "entangled," which means that their properties are linked in such a way that they exist as a unit rather than individually. In the JQI work, each quantum image is carried by a light beam and consists of up to 100 "pixels." A pixel in one quantum image displays random and unpredictable changes say, in intensity, yet the corresponding pixel in the other image exhibits identical intensity fluctuations at the same time, and these fluctuations are independent from fluctuations in other pixels. This entanglement can persist even if the two images are physically disconnected from one another.

By using a gas cell to slow down one of the light beams to 500 times slower than the speed of light, the group has demonstrated that they could delay the arrival time of one of the entangled images at a detector by up to 27 nanoseconds. The correlations between the two entangled images still occur—but they are out of sync. A flicker in the first image would have a corresponding flicker in the slowed-down image up to 27 nanoseconds later.

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Minuscule tech - Single Atom Quantum Dots Bring Real Devices Closer

PhysOrg.com - January 27 2009

Four atomic quantum dots are coupled to form a "cell" for containing electrons. The cell is filled with just two electrons. Control charges are placed along a diagonal to direct the two electrons to reside at just two of the four quantum dots comprising the cell. This new level of control of electrons points to new computation schemes that require extremely low power to operate. Such a device is expected to require about 1,000 times less power and will be about 1,000 times smaller than today's transistors. Credit: Robert A. Wolkow

Single atom quantum dots created by researchers at Canada’s National Institute for Nanotechnology and the University of Alberta make possible a new level of control over individual electrons, a development that suddenly brings quantum dot-based devices within reach. Composed of a single atom of silicon and measuring less than one nanometre in diameter, these are the smallest quantum dots ever created.

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Quantum Shenanigans - UNDO THE PRESENT; RECALL THE PAST

Edge World Question Center - SETH LLOYD, Quantum Mechanical Engineer, MIT; author, Programming the Universe

While quantum computers afford their users protection and anonymity that classical computers cannot, even classical computers can be programmed to share this ability to erase regret, although they currently are not. Although classical computers dissipate heat and operate in and a physically irreversible way, they can still function in a logically reversible fashion: properly programmed, they can un-perform any computation that they can perform. We already see a hint of this digital nostalgia in hard-disk 'time machines,' which restore a disk to its state in an earlier, pre-crash era.

Suppose that we were to put this ability of computers to run the clock backward to the service of undoing not merely our accidental erasures and unfortunate viral infections, but to undoing financial transactions that were conducted under fraudulent conditions? Credit card companies already supply us with protection against theft conducted in our name. Why should not more important financial transactions be similarly guaranteed? Contracts for home sales, stock deals, and credit default swaps are already recorded and executed digitally. What would happen if combined digital finance with reversible computation?

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