I am a grade 11 student now and am celebrating my 16th birthday today. I am returning after a relaxing summer break with family and friends. Also, I got vaccinated against Covid-19. During my vacation, I enjoyed exploring Atomic Physics, Artificial Intelligence, and Quantum Computing.

Recently, I participated in a week-long quantum coding summer camp. It gave me an insight into the world of quantum computing and its future. Quantum computing is a recent field that deals with computation using Qubits – a special type of bits that display several quantum properties. Qubits are the quantum alternative to classical bits. That is because they can display quantum properties such as quantum entanglement. Another difference between qubits and classical bits is their ability to be in states between 1 and 0 (written as |0> and |1> in ket notation), unlike classical bits, which are either 1 or 0.  Qubits are usually made up of superconductors or trapped ions. They conduct properly when stored at very low and precise temperatures.

I am fascinated by the possibilities it opens up and about how we can use them in the future. I also virtually toured an MIT quantum laboratory, and it was very exciting to see a magnified qubit and other equipment used in such labs, like the fridges used to store them.

How is Quantum Mechanics used in computing?

When I started reading about Atomic Physics and Quantum mechanics, I was quite excited about learning the wave-particle duality of microscopic particles. Quantum Mechanics utilizes unique properties of microscopic particles (for example; electrons) like it existing simultaneously at different locations with different probabilities. Interestingly, it is possible that quantum particles are light-years apart but still be entangled. Here, the change in one impacts the other (Really! at a distance of light-years?). 

Quantum Mechanics considers the below-mentioned phenomena or properties to view possibilities, trends, and behavior of an invisible particle. Quantum coding can be a huge advantage because it can make several calculations simultaneously and hence do years of work in a minute time:

Superposition

Superposition is a property of qubits that allows them to be in a state of neither 1 nor 0. Hence, a qubit is assumed to be in both positions until it is measured. This property allows for multiple examinations and calculations at the same time and can also solve problems such as Schrödinger’s cat.

Interference

Interference is a property of waves but qubits also exhibit interference as they have properties of both particles and waves. This is in accordance with the Heisenberg principle. Interference is a property of waves stating that on collision, the waves can add or cancel up.

Entanglement

Entanglement is another quantum property that results in two entangled qubits having the same state without any physical relation. In theory, qubits galaxy apart could also be entangled, but ‘noise’ makes it nearly impossible. Entanglement helps us to determine the state of an entangled qubit just by looking at one of them. A real-world example is how one can look at a single shoe of a pair and tell if the other is left-footed or right-footed without having to see it.

Where can we use Quantum computing?

Quantum computers make existing programs faster and more efficient while putting forward new approaches to previously impossible-to-solve situations such as the following-

Chemistry and drug development

This field deals with proteins with thousands of atoms, and we can understand the interactions of these atoms only at the quantum level. Therefore, quantum computers open investigations in several quantum mechanical fields, such as chemistry.

Life-saving weather forecasting

Quantum computing can analyze lots of data simultaneously using properties such as superposition, which will give us more accurate information of where bad weather will strike in advance. This could potentially save lots of money and even people’s lives.

Healthcare

Quantum computing can benefit the field of healthcare by accelerating diagnoses, personalizing medicine, and optimizing pricing. This would benefit providers by helping them to make better healthcare plans. We can accomplish these tasks using quantum-based algorithms.

Finance

Bank and asset managers can use quantum computers to optimize their portfolios by simulating models with lots of variables. The simulation of multiple situations will result in more accurate and faster decision-making.

Fundamental Physics

Physical interactions in nature are also at quantum level. Therefore, we need quantum computers to simulate physical properties in the same way as they are present in nature.

Is Quantum Computing an exciting reality or a distant dream?

Already, the applications based on quantum coding are a revolution in their respective fields. As quantum computers can run much faster than classical computers, we can complete activities such as programming, rendering, and gaming more efficiently. This can help in innovations and increase the capability to do more and expand one’s creativity. Professor Winfried Hensinger, Chairman of Universal Quantum, a quantum computing company is working on a quantum simulation engine. UK National Quantum Technologies Programme is a 270 M £ investment by the UK government to create a quantum technology community that can work in transitioning quantum technologies from laboratory to industry.

But there is a long way to go before we can use quantum computers widely. Currently, there are 127 qubit computers at IBM, however, they plan to have more than 1000 qubits in 2 years. This would help to run programs faster and would also speed up cloud computing. This will also increase the availability of quantum computers to developers. The technology is there, we just need to implement it when suitable hardware is developed. Tech giants like AWS, Honeywell, Google, and IBM are constantly researching and developing better and more efficient quantum computers. In 2019, Google achieved a major milestone with its 54-bit sycamore processor, the first quantum processor believed to reach quantum supremacy, a term meaning that the chip can carry out programs and solve problems that a classical computer never can.

 


1 Comment

Prabhat Sharma · July 3, 2022 at 12:03 pm

Too good…

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