Age of Quantum Computing
What if I say that you can do something that you can but something is
restricting you to do that. What will you do? It’s obvious that you’ll search
for an alternative. This is the same case with our conventional computers. They
can go fast but some physical phenomena like Quantum Entanglement and
Superposition restricts them to do so. Let’s take a look over history.
History:-
The phenomenon of Quantum Entanglement was first discussed by Physicist
Prof.Albert Einstein in his 1935’s research paper along with Prof. Boris
Podolsky and Prof. Nathan Rosen. This effect comes into play when we talk about
quantum (very small) objects. Along with this the phenomenon of Superposition
is observed at such level which was given by Physicist Prof. Paul Dirac. While
designing the initial architecture for computers, these phenomena were
something to be considered.
Prof. Albert Einstein
Prof. Paul Dirac
Why we need quantum computers?
It all
began with the vacuum tubes in 1964 when it was unveiled at New York’s World
Fair. After that the transistors came. Transistors are an essential building
block used in almost every electronic device. Thousands of them can be crammed
into a single smartphone or laptop, which means that even seemingly minor
differences in their size can have a major impact on the device as a whole.
While
there have been other innovations allowing processors to compute quicker (e.g.,GaAs
wafers), making transistors smaller has been one of the most important factors
in increasing a computer’s speed. The
first transistor was 125 microns in size and today we’re at a stage when a
single transistor is of 5-10 nanometres in size. We can also see 3nm chips in
production.
Here’s the graph of transistor count over the years. We can see that the transistor count doubles every two years. This growth is exponential. How far it’ll go? As we’re approaching to small sizes, one day we’ll reach to the dimensions of a single atom. At such level the subatomic particles behaves differently and doesn’t gives result as before. That’s why we need Quantum Computing for further progress. This is the new technological revolution.
Why Quantum Computers are faster?
As quantum computers don’t use binary values like ones
and zeros, they use quantum bits or qubits which transfers the information
quantum mechanically. This difference makes them more powerful tool ever.
Let's look at
example that shows how quantum computers can succeed where classical computers
fail:
A supercomputer
might be great at difficult tasks like sorting through a big database of
protein sequences. But it will struggle to see the subtle patterns in that data
that determine how those proteins behave.Proteins
are long strings of amino acids that become useful biological machines when
they fold into complex shapes. Figuring out how proteins will fold is a problem
with important implications for biology and medicine.
A classical
supercomputer might try to fold a protein with brute force, leveraging its many
processors to check every possible way of bending the chemical chain before
arriving at an answer. But as the protein sequences get longer and more
complex, the supercomputer stalls. A chain of 100 amino acids could
theoretically fold in any one of many trillions of ways. No computer has the
working memory to handle all the possible combinations of individual folds.
Quantum
algorithms take a new approach to these sorts of complex problems -- creating
multidimensional spaces where the patterns linking individual data points
emerge. In the case of a protein folding problem, that pattern might be the
combination of folds requiring the least energy to produce. That combination of
folds is the solution to the problem.
Quantum
Computers are built for complexity:
Conventional
computers use bit for it’s mathematical operations whereas quantum computers
use qubits (CUE-bits) for performing it’s multidimensional quantum algorithms.
Entanglement
is a quantum mechanical effect that correlates the behavior of two separate
things. When two qubits are entangled, changes to one qubit directly impact the
other. Quantum algorithms leverage those relationships to find solutions to
complex problems.
computers.
As quantum hardware scales and these algorithms advance, they could tackle
protein folding problems too complex for any supercomputer.
Quantum Computers-
IBM
Advanced Commercial Quantum System (IBM One)
University
of Science and Technology of China’s ‘Jiuzhang 2.0’
Applications:
Communication- Many clud-based services, from our calendar
to chat, so are popular apps like Skype and Whatspp, and all empower people to
comuunicate and collaborate on a global scale. This is only possible because of
Quantum Computing.
Entertainment-
Many services and streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc which host
enormous databases of movies and TV shows available via cloud. This allows them
to exist.
Health
Care- Quantum’s capacity to process at scale will permit clinicians
to integrate numerous cross-utilitarian data collections into their patient
risk factor models. For example, they will have the option to investigate
environmental databases to assess the impact of contamination on a patient’s
health history.
At
last we can say, Quantum computing enables us to take care of
complex issues that are past the capacities of traditional computers. From
managing money to large datasets, quantum computing’s applications are
unending. It is of prime importance in today’s world. As our society grows, we
need different innovations to sustain our life. Innovations and technologies
like this will be always there sustain life…
References and credits:-
Abhijeet Waghchaure (Team Tech Tuesday)
https://www.ibm.com/topics/quantum-computing
https://towardsdatascience.com/the-need-promise-and-reality-of-quantum-computing-4264ce15c6c0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement
https://builtin.com/hardware/quantum-computing-applications
https://www.offgridweb.com/preparation/infographic-the-growth-of-computer-processing-power/
https://www.waferworld.com/post/how-small-can-transistors-get
https://www.istockanalyst.com/category/tech/
https://fossbytes.com/china-supercomputer-jiuzhang-zuchongzhi/
Book- Computing with Quantum Catss: From
Colossus to Qubits- by John Gribbin
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