Quantum Computing
0101010111000100110010001101010101
That's what a piece of binary computer code looks like. "0" means false, and "1" means true. All computing systems ultimately use this technique at their lowest levels. We call these 0's and 1's "bits".
The quantum counter part is a qubit. It has 8 states instead of the 0 or 1 state of a bit. So while a bit can only exist in the state of 0 or the state of 1, a qubit can actually exist in many different states (0, 1, or some where in between and many different positions or superpositions between) at the same time. Imagine 8 to the power of 8 as compared to 0 or 1.
Its been theorized that Quantum Computing will create computer systems that are millions of times more powerful than our current fastest supercomputers today. The problem is creating a computer to put the theory to use.
Today it was announced that the first semiconductor has been created that is actually used to create pairs of entangled protons, which is the first major hurdle in having a quantum computer. Entanglement is something that completely freaked out Einstein. He called it "Spooky actions".
Entanglement is where two particles that are seperated by space act and react as if it were the same particle. Imagine if you had a proton at point A vibrating north and south, and then you had another proton at point B that mimiced that same motion. Exactly. Even thousands of miles away. Freaky, huh?
Now apply that theory to computers. Say that you determine that if your proton is moving north to south it represents something. And have the proton's counterpart in another state. If the proton represents some piece of data, then you have automatically replicated your data. Constantly. Freaky, huh?
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8568
That's what a piece of binary computer code looks like. "0" means false, and "1" means true. All computing systems ultimately use this technique at their lowest levels. We call these 0's and 1's "bits".
The quantum counter part is a qubit. It has 8 states instead of the 0 or 1 state of a bit. So while a bit can only exist in the state of 0 or the state of 1, a qubit can actually exist in many different states (0, 1, or some where in between and many different positions or superpositions between) at the same time. Imagine 8 to the power of 8 as compared to 0 or 1.
Its been theorized that Quantum Computing will create computer systems that are millions of times more powerful than our current fastest supercomputers today. The problem is creating a computer to put the theory to use.
Today it was announced that the first semiconductor has been created that is actually used to create pairs of entangled protons, which is the first major hurdle in having a quantum computer. Entanglement is something that completely freaked out Einstein. He called it "Spooky actions".
Entanglement is where two particles that are seperated by space act and react as if it were the same particle. Imagine if you had a proton at point A vibrating north and south, and then you had another proton at point B that mimiced that same motion. Exactly. Even thousands of miles away. Freaky, huh?
Now apply that theory to computers. Say that you determine that if your proton is moving north to south it represents something. And have the proton's counterpart in another state. If the proton represents some piece of data, then you have automatically replicated your data. Constantly. Freaky, huh?
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8568
posted by Brian Fairchild at 16:03
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home