What seemed to be nearly impossible for the past few decades just came into existence on May 3, 2017, at the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies of University of Science and Technology, China. The world's first Quantum computer was designed by physicist Pan Jianwei and his colleagues. Quantum Computers can even beat Supercomputers in some areas of computing. This Computer is said to be 24000 times faster than its fellow (Similar type of computers) computers. Unlike its predecessor which involved single photon, its architecture involves five photon sampling. The Quantum computer so designed is set to perform some specific tasks only, it cannot perform any task. A lot of work still needs to be done to build a Universal Quantum computer which would be able to perform any task as our classical computers, and more, only faster. For those of you who are unaware of what a Quantum computer is and how it is different from a classical computer, keep reading.
Let's get down to the very basics of a classical computer. We know that the brain of a computer is CPU (Central Processing Unit) and in CPU we have a microprocessor chip which is made up of transistors. To process anything a computer needs to store it first. Now the question arises that how does a computer store something in its memory? You can't just simply write something in the computer's memory with a pen. Well, the answer to that question is a transistor. A transistor is a semiconductor device which can either be on or off at a time. When current passes through a transistor then it is said to be on and when the current does not passes through the transistor then it is said to be in off state. For our own ease, we represent On state with a '1' and Off state with a '0'. In computer science, we call them bits. A string of such bits can be used to store information in the computer in such a way that a computer can understand it. Thus any letter, character or number can be represented using these bits (Don't forget that these bits are just a representation of states of a transistor). This is how a computer stores information.
I hope now you are clear with how a computer stores information. Now let us move on to how a computer processes this stored information. Well, the answer again is Transistors. A Number of transistor groups together to form a logic gate. These logic gates perform some actions on the pattern of bits stored in the computer's memory and convert them into a new pattern to indicate the result of the action. This is how a computer perform calculations which a human brain would call arithmetic (Addition, Subtraction etc)
It is not wrong to say that a conventional computer depends on transistors for storing and processing data. Back then the amount of data to be stored and processed was limited but it's a different scenario today. The total amount of data in the world was 4.4 zettabytes in 2013. That is set to rise steeply to 44 zettabytes by 2020. And just to be clear 1 zettabyte equals 44 trillion gigabytes. To store such large amount of data we need a large number of transistors. Since a transistor can only be in one state at a time, a computer can only process one task at a time. The main problem with conventional computers is that we have reached a point where we cannot extract any more benefit from a transistor. (In other words, we can't further increase the power of a computer and reduce the size of a microprocessor while developing it with transistors) This fact opposes Moore's law. According to Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. which in other word means the power of computer doubles in approximately every two years. However, this doubling of Computational power has seen a downfall in past few years. Attempts are being made to keep Moore's law in motion. One such attempt is Quantum Computers.
Quantum Computers
Now we are all set to understand what a quantum computer is, how it is different in working from a conventional computer and what are the features that make it thousands of times faster than a conventional computer.
Quantum theory studies the behavior of atomic and subatomic particles. In an attempt to reduce the size of the computer and increase its computability, scientists proposed to use atoms instead of transistors to store and process information. In simple words, a computer which makes use of nature's smallest particles(atoms, ions, photons etc) to store and process data is called a quantum computer. However, keep in mind that a quantum computer is much more complex than that. In Quantum theory, everyday laws of physics do not apply, for instance, light is made up of tiny particles according to famous scientist Isaac Newton whereas Huygens proposed that light is made up of waves, and we know that light is both a wave and a particle at the same time. Now imagine if our transistor can be both on and off at the same time. Wouldn't it be amazing? A single transistor can represent both '1' and '0' at a single time, decreasing the amount of resources and time required to solve a problem. However, this is not possible that is why we entered the realm of Quantum theory.
In conventional computers, we used to have bits which can take just two values viz. 0 and 1. But Quantum computers make use of Quantum bits, or simply, qubits. A qubit can store a zero, a one, both zero and one, or an infinite number of values in between. A qubit can be in multiple states (store multiple values) at the same time! For understanding this concept we can relate this behavior of qubits with superposition of light waves. When two light waves add up they give a new light wave which contains the data of both the waves. Now, what actually is a Qubit? How can it be in multiple states simultaneously? As we know that Qubits stands for Quantum bits so it is quite obvious that it has something to do with Atoms or subatomic particles in the atoms. Qubits can be contained in atoms, ions or even smaller energy particles such as photons. An atom has electrons in it and these electrons revolve around the nucleus. Now to represent information all we need to do is develop a mechanism to move these electrons in different shells of the atom. This can be done easily with a minimal amount of energy. Some such ways of changing the states of an atom are the application laser beams, electromagnetic or radio waves. A qubit can be in multiple states at a single time, which means more amount of data can be stored in just one qubit and a qubit can be processed very quickly without wasting a lot of energy unlike in conventional computers. This is a major advantage of Quantum computers that it does not require a lot of energy to manipulate data unlike in conventional computers. A quantum computer can process the qubits in parallel which makes it thousands of times faster than conventional computers.
The Quantum computer developed in China uses the high-performance single-photon source and the electronically programmable photonic circuit at its core. The actual backend working of this computer is yet to be announced. I will be writing about that in my upcoming posts. Stay connected for more information about Quantum Computers.
Email: techievent@gmail.com
Phone: +919718139146
Thank you, have a good day ahead.
What seemed to be nearly impossible for the past few decades just came into existence on May 3, 2017, at the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies of University of Science and Technology, China. The world's first Quantum computer was designed by physicist Pan Jianwei and his colleagues. Quantum Computers can even beat Supercomputers in some areas of computing. This Computer is said to be 24000 times faster than its fellow (Similar type of computers) computers. Unlike its predecessor which involved single photon, its architecture involves five photon sampling. The Quantum computer so designed is set to perform some specific tasks only, it cannot perform any task. A lot of work still needs to be done to build a Universal Quantum computer which would be able to perform any task as our classical computers, and more, only faster. For those of you who are unaware of what a Quantum computer is and how it is different from a classical computer, keep reading.
Let's get down to the very basics of a classical computer. We know that the brain of a computer is CPU (Central Processing Unit) and in CPU we have a microprocessor chip which is made up of transistors. To process anything a computer needs to store it first. Now the question arises that how does a computer store something in its memory? You can't just simply write something in the computer's memory with a pen. Well, the answer to that question is a transistor. A transistor is a semiconductor device which can either be on or off at a time. When current passes through a transistor then it is said to be on and when the current does not passes through the transistor then it is said to be in off state. For our own ease, we represent On state with a '1' and Off state with a '0'. In computer science, we call them bits. A string of such bits can be used to store information in the computer in such a way that a computer can understand it. Thus any letter, character or number can be represented using these bits (Don't forget that these bits are just a representation of states of a transistor). This is how a computer stores information.
I hope now you are clear with how a computer stores information. Now let us move on to how a computer processes this stored information. Well, the answer again is Transistors. A Number of transistor groups together to form a logic gate. These logic gates perform some actions on the pattern of bits stored in the computer's memory and convert them into a new pattern to indicate the result of the action. This is how a computer perform calculations which a human brain would call arithmetic (Addition, Subtraction etc)
It is not wrong to say that a conventional computer depends on transistors for storing and processing data. Back then the amount of data to be stored and processed was limited but it's a different scenario today. The total amount of data in the world was 4.4 zettabytes in 2013. That is set to rise steeply to 44 zettabytes by 2020. And just to be clear 1 zettabyte equals 44 trillion gigabytes. To store such large amount of data we need a large number of transistors. Since a transistor can only be in one state at a time, a computer can only process one task at a time. The main problem with conventional computers is that we have reached a point where we cannot extract any more benefit from a transistor. (In other words, we can't further increase the power of a computer and reduce the size of a microprocessor while developing it with transistors) This fact opposes Moore's law. According to Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel, the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. which in other word means the power of computer doubles in approximately every two years. However, this doubling of Computational power has seen a downfall in past few years. Attempts are being made to keep Moore's law in motion. One such attempt is Quantum Computers.
Quantum Computers
Now we are all set to understand what a quantum computer is, how it is different in working from a conventional computer and what are the features that make it thousands of times faster than a conventional computer.
Quantum theory studies the behavior of atomic and subatomic particles. In an attempt to reduce the size of the computer and increase its computability, scientists proposed to use atoms instead of transistors to store and process information. In simple words, a computer which makes use of nature's smallest particles(atoms, ions, photons etc) to store and process data is called a quantum computer. However, keep in mind that a quantum computer is much more complex than that. In Quantum theory, everyday laws of physics do not apply, for instance, light is made up of tiny particles according to famous scientist Isaac Newton whereas Huygens proposed that light is made up of waves, and we know that light is both a wave and a particle at the same time. Now imagine if our transistor can be both on and off at the same time. Wouldn't it be amazing? A single transistor can represent both '1' and '0' at a single time, decreasing the amount of resources and time required to solve a problem. However, this is not possible that is why we entered the realm of Quantum theory.
In conventional computers, we used to have bits which can take just two values viz. 0 and 1. But Quantum computers make use of Quantum bits, or simply, qubits. A qubit can store a zero, a one, both zero and one, or an infinite number of values in between. A qubit can be in multiple states (store multiple values) at the same time! For understanding this concept we can relate this behavior of qubits with superposition of light waves. When two light waves add up they give a new light wave which contains the data of both the waves. Now, what actually is a Qubit? How can it be in multiple states simultaneously? As we know that Qubits stands for Quantum bits so it is quite obvious that it has something to do with Atoms or subatomic particles in the atoms. Qubits can be contained in atoms, ions or even smaller energy particles such as photons. An atom has electrons in it and these electrons revolve around the nucleus. Now to represent information all we need to do is develop a mechanism to move these electrons in different shells of the atom. This can be done easily with a minimal amount of energy. Some such ways of changing the states of an atom are the application laser beams, electromagnetic or radio waves. A qubit can be in multiple states at a single time, which means more amount of data can be stored in just one qubit and a qubit can be processed very quickly without wasting a lot of energy unlike in conventional computers. This is a major advantage of Quantum computers that it does not require a lot of energy to manipulate data unlike in conventional computers. A quantum computer can process the qubits in parallel which makes it thousands of times faster than conventional computers.
The Quantum computer developed in China uses the high-performance single-photon source and the electronically programmable photonic circuit at its core. The actual backend working of this computer is yet to be announced. I will be writing about that in my upcoming posts. Stay connected for more information about Quantum Computers.
Email: techievent@gmail.com
Phone: +919718139146
Thank you, have a good day ahead.
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