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Quantum Computing and Optically Controlled Electrons
eldavojohn writes "Researchers have released a new paper on quantum computing theorizing how to use optically controlled electrons to make an ultrafast quantum computer. From the article, "Scientists have designed a scheme to create one of the fastest quantum computers to date using light pulses to rotate electron spins, which serve as quantum bits. This technique improves the overall clock rate of the quantum computer, which could lead to the fastest potentially scalable quantum computing scheme of which the scientists are aware.""
Sorry as I am not "up to speed" on my quantum computing but from TFA "In the article, we give the limit of about 100 GHz, which is assuming a very high magnetic field, which would require superconducting magnets to achieve. "
and then...
"Proper error correction may reduce the speed of the quantum computer to 1-10 MHz."
I already have 3+ GHz machines so why would I want to have the cost of a superconduction magnet and the cooling that goes with it to get a machine that is slower than an Intel P?
I am number two... sooo close... damn!!!!
Did I miss something? To be one of the fastest that would imply a quantum computer already exists? If that's true why isn't everyone going nuts that the man will be able to read our encrypted email soon?
The fully quantum computer probably won't ever exist. An operating system shouldn't be in a fuzzy state... ever. Imagine it, maybe i might be running Photoshop. Anywy, my point is that quntum computers will be auxiliary chips or, when the time comes, it will be in the form of a Quantum Processing Unit (QPU). It would be like the Floating Point Unit (FPU) or the Integer Unit (IU) in a processor. The various units DO run at different speeds. Some operations take 1 cycle and others upwrds of 5 or even 10 cycles. The QPU would just take 1000 cycles for one operation.
The cycles in a QPU are deceptive because the amount of work it can do is enormous. Where it might take the IU one second to sort a list, it may take the QPU only milliseconds even at such reduced speeds.
Lastly, the hard part isn't going to be creating the QPU... there are many vectors for its creation and we know we can do it, theoreticlly. The hard part is the programming language of such a unit. Because it's based in physics in the way that it is, it would take a VERY complex and mathematical language to create the instructions for such a unit. The next step to over come is that most programmers think linerly not quantumly. It's a complete mindset change and so finding programmers for such a unit would be extremely hard. Your average joe programmer wouldn't be able to program such a unit.
There is a dump truck with a pdf white paper floting around on the series of tubes that tells the various qualities that such a quantum languge must possess but it doesn't define any language.
Or maybe, quantumly, I'm wrong.
Is one of the two electron spin states in a higher energy state than the other? In other words, does an electron require more (or less) energy to switch from "UP" to "DOWN" than the reverse flip? Or are both spin energy states the same?
If there is an energy difference, how big is it (minimum theoretical)? And how much is the minimum (theoretical) energy required to flip the state? I'm not talking about today's first generation flippers, which probably consume much more energy than is theoretically required. And I'm not talking about the typical processes for collecting electrons in one state, which merely sorts the existing electrons by their existing state, and doesn't actually flip them.
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make install -not war
OK.
It's complicated, but I think I get it:
Any story that contains the word "quantum", you post anything containing the word "cat", and the Mods rate it +3 funny.
Right.