What is the Potential of Quantum Computing?

Quantum computing has a revolutionary effect on our understanding of quantum systems and can be good at solving intrinsically quantum problems.

Quantum computing has the potential to spur breakthroughs in financial modeling, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, weather forecasting, logistics optimization, computational chemistry, and drug design and development. 

What is Quantum Computing?

Quantum computing is a new computing model that follows the laws of quantum mechanics and regulates quantum information units for computing.

Quantum computing is different from traditional computing theories. Its operation is based on qubits. It uses unique quantum effects such as quantum superposition and quantum entanglement for information processing, which can greatly improve computing efficiency.

 

Quantum computer is any method that invests in the principles and phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as quantum superposition and quantum entanglement, to do data processing.

 In quantum computing, a qubit is a unit of information that can be set to one of two states: 0 or 1.

Three principles of quantum mechanics manipulate the state of qubits: superposition, interference, and entanglement.

Classical computers use 0 and 1 to store and process data. The magic of a quantum computer is that its basic computing unit-qubits can be both 0 and 1 at the same time, which allows "superposition states" to coexist. This gives it powerful parallel computing capabilities. 

For example, if you find a word in 8 million books, the classic computer searches locally, while the quantum computer does it for 8 million computers to search simultaneously. 

Therefore, some people say that in front of quantum computers, today's computers are like an abacus.

 

The same is true for the decomposition of large numbers. Once a scientist used 1,600 computers and spent 8 months to successfully decompose the prime factor of a 129-digit large number. If a quantum computer is used, it may only take a few seconds.

 

Quantum computers have great advantages in financial analysis, drug research, material preparation, and other fields. However, compared with supercomputers, what is special about quantum computers?

 

What Can Quantum Computers Do?

Quantum computing has many potential applications. It has the potential to spur breakthroughs in the fields of finance, medicine, chemistry, materials, artificial intelligence, etc., and quantum computers are expected to be used in artificial intelligence, drug discovery, weather forecasting, financial modeling, and efficient global optimal search more efficiently.

 

Quantum computing is currently mainly used in complex large-scale data processing and computing problems, as well as network security services based on quantum encryption. 

With the increasing demand for computing power from artificial intelligence, quantum computing provides a fundamentally enhanced computing power. Its core advantage is that it can perform high-speed parallel computing. 

 

Quantum computers can run machine learning algorithms faster and more efficiently. And through quantum-assisted optimization, they can solve many existing important optimization problems.

 

In the fields of lasers and superconductivity, people have widely used the properties of quantum. The difference is that applications were mostly at the macro level before, while quantum computing has to be controlled at the micro-level.

If you use a supercomputer to plan the optimal route in real-time, the limit is to control hundreds of cars. In the future, smart transportation will need to calculate the travel routes of hundreds of thousands of cars at the same time. In theory, quantum computers can do it.

 

This theoretical potential has been excitingly verified. The progress has benefited from the advancement of quantum computing engineering in recent years. At present, almost all developed countries regard quantum computing as the commanding heights of future technology, and well-known IT companies at home and abroad have set foot in quantum computing.

 

Quantum computers have great prospects, but they have a long way to go. To develop a quantum computer, we must first have enough qubits. In theory, all carriers with quantum effects in nature can be used as qubits. It is generally believed that the number of qubits must reach 1 million for quantum computers to become practical. But at the moment, the industry has not yet achieved control of 100 qubits.

 

After long-term exploration, scientists have discovered that superconductors, ion traps, ultracold atoms, and semiconductor quantum dots can all be used to develop quantum computers. These different systems have created different technical implementation routes for quantum computers. 

 

Stability is an important indicator for the application of quantum computers, which requires a long coherence time and very high fidelity.

Each system has advantages and disadvantages. The semiconductor quantum dot route is easy to control, but the coherence time is very short; the optical or ion trap route has a long coherence time, but the scalability is relatively poor.

 

At present, most developers choose the two routes of superconductivity and semiconductor. And the engineering and process of the two are also advancing rapidly. 

Developers hope to use advanced semiconductor and integrated circuit technology to advance the research and development of quantum computers and pave the way for the potential integration of quantum computers and classical computers in the future.

 

Conclusion

Quantum computers have a broad application space in the fields of finance, medicine, chemistry, materials, artificial intelligence, etc., and are expected to be used in artificial intelligence, drug discovery, weather forecasting, financial modeling, and efficient global optimal search.