Quantum
Computers Closer To Reality As Researchers Make First Blueprint For Prototype
Scientists
have produced the first-ever blueprint for a large-scale quantum computer in a
development that could bring about a technological revolution on a par with the
invention of computing itself.
Present
quantum computers have just a fraction of the processing power they are capable
of producing. Researchers believe they have overcome the main problems that
have prevented the construction of powerful machines.
They are
currently building a prototype and a full-scale quantum computer. Such de vices
work by utilising the magical properties found in the world of the very small,
where an atom can apparently exist in two different places at the same time.
Professor Winfried Hensinger, head of Ion Quantum Technology Group at Sussex
University , research head, said, “It is the Holy Grail of science, to build a
quantum computer. And we are now publishing the actual nutsand-bolts
construction plan for a large-scale quantum com puter.“ “Life will change
completely. We will be able to do certain things we could never even dream of
before,“ he said.
He said
small quantum computers had been built in the past but to test the theories.
The
problem is that existing quantum computers require lasers focused on individual
atoms. The larger the computer, the more lasers are required and greater the
chance of going wrong. But Hensinger and colleagues used a different technique
to monitor the atoms, involving a microwave field and electricity in an
`ion-trap' device.“What we have is a solution that we can scale to arbitrary (computing)
power,“ he said.
“Within
two years we think we will have completed a prototype which incorporates all
the technology in this blueprint. It's extraordinarily expensive so we need
industry partners ... this will be in the 10s of millions, up to £100m.“
Commenting
on the research, described in the journal Science Advances, some academics
expressed caution about how quickly it could be developed. Dr Toby Cubitt of
said, “Ion traps were one of the earliest proposals. Though there's still a
long way to go before you'll be making spreadsheets on your quantum computer.“
Source: TIMES OF INDIA-3rd February,2017
