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Making Cesium Atoms Do a Quantum Walk
An anonymous reader recommends an Ars Technica account of a breakthrough in efforts toward quantum computing. German scientists have managed to get cesium atoms in a state called a "quantum walk": basically a superposition of all the possible states of a particle. "Quantum walks were first proposed by physicist Richard Feynman and are, in terms of probability, the opposite of a random walk. A random walk might be modeled by a person flipping a coin, and for each flip he steps left for heads and right for tails. In this case, his most probable location is the center, with the probability distribution tapering off in either direction. A quantum walk involves the use of internal states and superpositions, and results in the hypothetical person 'exploring' every possible position simultaneously." In the abstract of the paper from Science (subscription needed for full-text access), the researchers say: "Our system allows the observation of the quantum-to-classical transition and paves the way for applications, such as quantum cellular automata."
It seems that a week does not go by unless somebody, somewhere, claims yet another major advance in quantum computing. But has anybody noticed that this has been going on for at least a decade and we still don't have a quantum computer that we can put our hands on? It's obvious that some people need a constant flow of money to keep themselves employed. I just wish it weren't the public's money.
Quantum Computing Crackpottery
You may mod me down as a troll but I'm right, goddamnit! Quantum computing is both fraud and crackpottery.