A Working Quantum Computer in 3 Years?

prostoalex writes "Vancouver, BC-based D-Wave Systems got $17.5 mln from Draper Fisher Jurvetson to work on a preliminary version of a quantum computer, Technology Review reports. Delivery date? Within three years: 'It won't be a fully functional quantum computer of the sort long envisioned; but D-Wave is on track to produce a special-purpose, "noisy" piece of quantum hardware that could solve many of the physical-simulation problems that stump today's computers, says David Meyer, a mathematician working on quantum algorithms at the University of California, San Diego.'"

Comments

Quantum Computing...

[Wizard Drongo]

Yeah, but will it play Duke Nukem Forever??

Re:Quantum Computing...

[Anonymous Coward]

You will have to kill the cat to know...

Re:Quantum Computing...

[Mr_Tulip]

It will, unfortunately, you'll never be able to observe it being played, just see the end result...

QC Shell>run DukeNukem

The end boss was really tough.

QC Shell>_

Re:Quantum Computing...

[eclectro]

Yeah, but will it play Duke Nukem Forever??

More importantly, will it be able to vertically integrate with a scalable ecommerce solution to provide dynamic interaction for the customer and enterprise??

Mathematician

[TorKlingberg]

says David Meyer, a mathematician working on quantum algorithms at the University of California, San Diego.

I will believe this when it comes from an experimental physicist.

If they build a QC will they say...

[Anonymous Coward]

All your possible answers are belong to us!

Vaporware Award goes to....

[NoSuchGuy]

The 2006, 2007, 2008 Vaporware Award goes to D-Wave Systems.

Wow, a Quantum Computer that only exist in a "Powerpoint Universe ©".

got my hopes up

[n0rr1s]

... but it's not a proper quantum computer. It's based on tunneling, not entanglement. The latter is what everyone understands by the term 'quantum computer'. Their computer just requires knowledge of quantum theory to build it. Well, so do conventional computers...

Re:got my hopes up

[Anonymous Coward]

but it's not a proper quantum computer. It's based on tunneling, not entanglement.

Nope, it is a quantum computer qubit. E.g. Google for "Cooper pair boxes"

This is a solid state quantum computer, an artifical atom, where the state could be encoded as the presence or absence of charge on an island. It tunnels on and off quantum mechanically, creating a qubit. Its just how the underlying system works.

Entanglement requires the coupling of more than one qubit, and is more part of the maths of QM. However, this may be done practically through capacitve or inductive coupling for the above devices.

Re:Quantum is just another buzzword

[Stalyn]

Yeah... quantum was a buzzword in 1905. But now it's actual science and proven. Quantum mechanics and QFT are two of the most successful theories to date. Yes there are conflicts with GR. And yes QM and QFT are most likely incomplete. However for a quantum computer there is no need for a theory that will supersede QM/QFT. The domain for quantum computing is well within the reach of QM itself.

Actually things like superdense coding and quantum teleportation have been verfied in the lab. So this stuff isn't exactly nonsense.

Re:Quantum is just another buzzword

[ettlz]

Good points. There are few "good" uses for quantum computers --- mainly, breaking public keys by factorising the product of two large primes (which may prove unrealisable in practise: I don't know how long one could keep an O(100) qbit state coherent), QM simulations (i.e., designable software experiments), and searching databases more quickly than classically possible. There will always be a need for classical computers.

Re:Quantum is just another buzzword

[Anonymous Coward]

Your post is pure fluff. You don't know what you are talking about.

With a (good enough) quantum computer it is possible to factor large numbers (Shor's algorithm) and to break various public key cryptography. (RSA, Elliptic curve crypto). So I would say that it is clear why people want to build one.

(Though it is expected to take a while before the quantum computers are good enough. A few years ago they built one that was able to factor the number 15...)

Re:Speeds?

[MyLongNickName]

GHz has no meaning with Quantum computers. Sorry. Visualizing QC in terms on the Pentium in your computer is invalid.

QCL

[miyako]

This is somewhat offtopic, but I ran across it a few months ago and it's really interesting. QCL allows you to write and run quantum algorithms. Runs on Linux and OS X with some tweaking.
The documentation that comes with it is really interesting, and gives some good insights into how quantum computing works and how to write programs for a quantum computer.

Re:Speeds?

[Timbotronic]

Bit of a problem that one. As soon as you know the speed of your quantum computer you're unable to find it...