Quantum Computing: the Story So Far
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We keep hearing about quantum computers, but when will they become a reality? Will we ever get to use one on our desktops? While progress toward a mass-produced quantum computer has been limited at best, several teams of scientists have produced designs for the essential building blocks.
The ideas behind quantum computing have been around for years. A computer that could take advantage of the principles of quantum mechanics could perform calculations far faster than the best supercomputers built today, and would be much smaller. Due to various technological limitations, however, it is likely to be many years before quantum computers replace personal computers on the desktop, if ever.
Nevertheless, scientists have made considerable progress in this area. Research into the possibilities of quantum computing has received a boost from progress in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology -- which can be loosely described as the study of how very, very small particles interact with each other, and the attempt to make machines on a molecular or near-molecular scale. To fully understand the scale, one nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter; nanotechnology deals with items that are 0.1 nm to 100 nm in size.
At such a small scale, the standard laws of relativity yield to quantum mechanics; quantum effects are all but unavoidable. This fact causes problems that stand in the way of further miniaturization of electronic components, including those used in computers, in part because quantum effects are often counterintuitive. Recently, however, researchers in the United States, Canada, the UK and Japan have come up with designs related to quantum computing that take advantage of these effects. So far, only the design created by the Canadian team has made it off the drawing board to tests in the lab; still, these designs offer the hope that the promise of quantum computing could be fulfilled.
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