What is a quantum computer in simple terms? Home quantum computer

Quantum computers promise a real revolution, not only in computing, but also in real life. The media is full of headlines about how quantum computers will destroy modern cryptography, and the power of artificial intelligence, thanks to them, will increase by orders of magnitude.

Over the past 10 years, quantum computers have gone from pure theory to the first working examples. True, there is still a long way to go before the promised revolution, and its influence in the end may not be as comprehensive as it seems now.

How does a quantum computer work?

A quantum computer is a device that uses the phenomena of quantum superposition and quantum entanglement. The main element in such calculations is the qubit, or quantum bit. Behind all these words lies quite complex mathematics and physics, but if you simplify them as much as possible, you get something like this.

In ordinary computers we deal with bits. Bit is a unit of measurement of information in binary system. It can take the value 0 and 1, which is very convenient not only for mathematical operations, but also for logical ones, since zero can be associated with the value “false”, and one with “true”.

Modern processors are built on the basis of transistors, semiconductor elements that can pass or not pass electricity. In other words, it produces two values, 0 and 1. Similarly, in flash memory, a floating gate transistor can store charge. If it is present, we get one, if it is not there, we get zero. Magnetic digital recording works in a similar way, only the information carrier there is a magnetic particle, either with or without a charge.

In calculations, we read the value of a bit (0 or 1) from memory and then pass current through the transistor and, depending on whether it passes it or not, we get a new bit at the output, possibly having a different value.

What are qubits for quantum computers? In a quantum computer, the main element is a qubit - a quantum bit. Unlike an ordinary bit, it is in a state of quantum superposition, that is, it has the value of both 0 and 1, and any combination of them at any time. If there are several qubits in the system, then changing one also entails changing all the other qubits.

This allows you to simultaneously calculate all possible options. A conventional processor, with its binary calculations, actually calculates the options sequentially. First one scenario, then another, then a third, etc. To speed things up, they began to use multithreading, running calculations in parallel, prefetching, to predict possible branching options and calculate them in advance. In a quantum computer, this is all done in parallel.

The calculation principle is also different. In a sense, a quantum computer already contains all possible solutions to the problem; our task is only to read the state of the qubits and... choose from them correct option. And this is where the difficulties begin. This is the principle of operation of a quantum computer.

Creation of a quantum computer

What will be the physical nature of a quantum computer? A quantum state can only be achieved in particles. A qubit cannot be built from several atoms, like a transistor. So far this problem has not been fully resolved. There are several options. Are used charge states atoms, for example, the presence or absence of an electron at an ordinary point, superconducting elements, photons, etc.

Such “subtle matters” impose restrictions on measuring the state of qubits. The energies are extremely low, amplifiers are needed to read the data. But amplifiers can influence a quantum system and change its states, however, not only they, but even the very fact of observation can have significance.

Quantum computing involves a sequence of operations that are performed on one or more qubits. Those, in turn, lead to changes in the entire system. The task is to select the correct one from its states, which gives the result of the calculations. In this case, there can be any number of states that are as close as possible to this. Accordingly, the accuracy of such calculations will almost always differ from unity.

Thus, a full-fledged quantum computer requires significant advances in physics. In addition, programming for a quantum computer will be different from what exists now. Finally, quantum computers will not be able to solve problems that cannot be solved by conventional ones, but they can speed up the solutions of those that they can handle. True, again, not all.

Qubit counting, qubit quantum computer

Gradually, the problems on the way to a quantum computer are being removed. The first qubits were built at the beginning of the century. The process accelerated at the beginning of the decade. Today, developers are already able to produce processors with tens of qubits.

The latest breakthrough was the creation of the Bristlecone processor in the bowels of Google. In March 2018, the company announced that it was able to build a 72-qubit processor. Google does not say on what physical principles Bristlecone is built. However, it is believed that 49 qubits are enough to achieve “quantum supremacy,” when a quantum computer begins to outperform a conventional one. Google managed to meet this condition, but the error rate of 0.6% is still higher than the required 0.5%.

In the fall of 2017, IBM announced the creation of a prototype of a 50-qubit quantum processor. He is being tested. But in 2017, IBM opened up its 20-qubit processor to cloud computing. In March 2018, a smaller version of IBM Q was launched. Anyone can run experiments on such a computer. Based on their results, 35 scientific papers have already been published.

At the beginning of the 10th anniversary, the Swedish company D-Wave appeared on the market, which positioned its computers as quantum. It generated a lot of controversy, as it announced the creation of 1000-qubit machines, while the recognized leaders were “tinkering” with just a couple of qubits. Computers from Swedish developers sold for $10-15 million, so testing them was not so easy.

D-Wave computers are not quantum in the truest sense of the word, but they do use some quantum effects that can be used to solve some optimization problems. In other words, not all algorithms that can be executed on a quantum computer receive quantum acceleration on D-Wave. Google acquired one of the Swedes' systems. As a result, its researchers recognized computers as “limitedly quantum.” It turned out that the qubits are grouped in clusters of eight, that is, their real number is noticeably less than the declared one.

Quantum computer in Russia

A traditionally strong school of physics allows one to make significant contributions to solving physical problems to create a quantum computer. In January 2018, the Russians created a signal amplifier for a quantum computer. Considering that the amplifier itself is capable of influencing the state of the qubits through its operation, the level of noise it generates should differ little from “vacuum”. This is what Russian scientists from the “Superconducting Metamaterials” laboratory of NUST MISIS and two institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences succeeded in doing. Superconductors were used to create the amplifier.

A quantum center has also been created in Russia. It is a non-governmental research organization engaged in research in the field of quantum physics. She is also working on the problem of creating qubits. Behind the center are businessman Sergei Belousov and Harvard University professor Mikhail Lukin. Under his leadership, a 51-qubit processor had already been created at Harvard, which for some time before the announcement of Bristlecon was the most powerful quantum computer device in the world.

The development of quantum computing has become part of the state program " Digital economy" In 2018-20, state support will be allocated for work in this area. The action plan provides for the creation of a quantum simulator using eight superconducting qubits. After this, the issue of further scaling of this technology will be decided.

In addition, before 2020, Russia plans to test another quantum technology: constructing qubits on neutral atoms and charged ions in traps.

One of the goals of the program is to create quantum cryptography and quantum communications devices. Distribution centers for quantum keys will be created, which will distribute them to consumers - banks, data centers, and industry enterprises. It is believed that a full-fledged quantum computer can break any modern algorithm encryption.

Eventually

So, quantum computers are still experimental. It is unlikely that a full-fledged quantum computer capable of truly high computing power will appear before the next decade. Manufacturing and building qubits stable system still far from perfect.

Judging by the fact that at the physical level, quantum computers have several solutions that differ in technology and, probably, in cost, they will not be unified for another 10 years. The standardization process can take a long time.

In addition, it is already clear that quantum computers will most likely remain “piecemeal” and very expensive devices over the next decade. It is unlikely that they will end up in your pocket simple user, but the list of supercomputers can be expected to appear.

It is likely that quantum computers will be offered in a “cloud” model, where their resources can be used by interested researchers and organizations.

Hello again to all readers of my blog! Yesterday, a couple of stories about a “quantum” computer once again appeared in the news. We know from the school physics course that a quantum is a certain identical portion of energy; there is also the phrase “quantum leap”, that is, an instant transition from a certain energy level to an even higher one. high level.. Let's figure out together what a quantum computer is, and what awaits us all when this miracle machine appears

I first became interested in this topic while watching films about Edward Snowden. As you know, this American citizen collected several terabytes of confidential information (compromising evidence) about the activities of the US intelligence services, thoroughly encrypted it and posted it on the Internet. “If, he said, anything happens to me, the information will be deciphered and thus become available to everyone.”

The calculation was that this information was “hot” and would be relevant for another ten years. And it can be decrypted with modern computing power in no less than ten or more years. The quantum computer, according to the developers' expectations, will cope with this task in about twenty-five minutes. Cryptographers are in a panic. This is the kind of “quantum” leap that awaits us soon, friends.

Principles of operation of a quantum computer for dummies

Since we're talking about quantum physics, let's talk a little about it. I won't go into the weeds, friends. I’m a “teapot”, not a quantum physicist. About a hundred years ago, Einstein published his theory of relativity. All the smart people of that time were surprised at how many paradoxes and incredible things there were in it. So, all of Einstein’s paradoxes that describe the laws of our world are just the innocent babble of a five-year-old child compared to what is happening at the level of atoms and molecules.

The “quantum physicists” themselves, who describe the phenomena occurring at the levels of electrons and molecules, say something like this: “This is incredible. This can't be true. But it is so. Don't ask us how it all works. We don't know how or why. We're just watching. But it works. This has been proven experimentally. Here are the formulas, dependencies and records of experiments.”

So what is the difference between a conventional and a quantum computer? After all, an ordinary computer also runs on electricity, and electricity is a bunch of very small particles - electrons?

Our computers work on the principle of either “Yes” or “No”. If there is current in the wire, it is “Yes” or “One”. If there is “No” current in the wire, then it is “Zero”. The value option "1" and "0" is a unit of information storage called "Bit".. One byte is 8 bits and so on and so on...

Now imagine your processor, on which there are 800 million such “wires”, on each of which such a “zero” or “one” appears and disappears in a second. And you can mentally imagine how he processes information. You are reading the text now, but in fact it is a collection of zeros and ones.

By brute force and calculations, your computer processes your requests in Yandex, searches for the ones you need until it solves the problem and, through elimination, gets to the bottom of the one you need. Displays fonts and pictures on the monitor in a form we can read... So far, I hope nothing complicated? And the picture is also zeros and ones.

Now, friends, imagine for a second a model of our solar system. The Sun is in the center and the Earth flies around it. We know that at a certain moment it is always at a certain point in space, and in a second it will fly thirty kilometers further.

So, the model of the atom is also planetary, where the atom also rotates around the nucleus. But it has been PROVEN, friends, by smart guys in glasses, that the atom, unlike the Earth, is simultaneously and always in all places... Everywhere and nowhere at the same time. And they called this wonderful phenomenon “superposition”. In order to get to know other phenomena of quantum physics better, I suggest watching a popular science film where in simple language talks about complex things in a rather original way.

Let's continue. And now “our” bit is replaced by a quantum bit. It is also called “Qubit”. It also has only two initial states “zero” and “one”. But, since its nature is “quantum”, it can SIMULTANEOUSLY take on all possible intermediate values. And at the same time be in them. Now you don’t have to sequentially calculate the values, sort through them... or search for a long time in the database. They are already known in advance, right away. Calculations are carried out in parallel.

The first “quantum” algorithms for mathematical calculations were invented by English mathematician Peter Shore in 1997. When he showed them to the world, all the cryptographers became very tense, since existing ciphers are “cracked” by this algorithm in a few minutes. But there were no computers working using the quantum algorithm at that time.

Since then, on the one hand, work has been going on to create physical system, in which a quantum bit would work. That is, “hardware”. On the other hand, they are already coming up with protection against quantum hacking and data decryption.

What now? And this is what a quantum processor looks like under a 9-qubit microscope from Google.

Have they really overtaken us? 9 qubits or according to the “old” 15 bits, this is not so much yet. Plus the high cost, mass technical problems and a short “lifetime” of quanta. But remember that first there were 8-bit processors, then 16-bit processors appeared... The same will happen with these...

Quantum computer in Russia - myth or reality?

What about us? But we weren’t born behind the stove. Here I dug up a photo of the first Russian Cubit under a microscope. He's really the only one here.

It also looks like a kind of “loop” in which something is happening that is not yet known to us. It’s gratifying to think that ours, with the support of the state, are developing their own. So domestic developments are no longer a myth. This is our future. We'll see what it will be like.

Latest news about Russia's 51-qubit quantum computer

Here's the news for this summer. Our guys (honor and praise to them!) have developed the most powerful in the world (!) quantum (!) computer 51 qubits (!) i.e. The most interesting thing is that before this Google announced its 49 qubit computer. And they estimated they would have it finished in a month or so. And ours decided to show a ready-made, 51-qubit quantum processor... Bravo! That's the race going on. At least we can keep up. Because a big breakthrough in science is expected when these systems work. Here is a photo of the person who presented our development at the “quantum” international forum.

The name of this scientist is Mikhail Lukin. Today his name is in the spotlight. It is impossible to create such a project alone, we understand this. He and his team created the most powerful quantum computer or processor in the world today (!). Here's what competent people have to say about this:

« A functioning quantum computer is much more terrible than an atomic bomb,” notes Sergei Belousov, co-founder of the Russian Quantum Center. - He (Mikhail Lukin) made a system that has the most qubits. Just in case. On this moment I think that's more than twice as many qubits as anyone else. And he specifically made 51 qubits, not 49. Because Google kept saying that they would make 49.”

However, Lukin himself and the head of the Google quantum laboratory, John Martinez, do not consider themselves competitors or rivals. Scientists are convinced that their main rival is nature, and their main goal is the development of technology and its implementation to advance humanity to a new stage of development.

“It's wrong to think of this as a race,” John Martinez rightly says. - We have a real race with nature. Because it's really difficult to create a quantum computer. And it's just exciting that someone managed to create a system with so many qubits. So far, 22 qubits is the maximum we could do. Even though we used all our magic and professionalism.”

Yes, this is all very interesting. If we recall analogies, when the transistor was invented, no one could have known that computers would work on this technology 70 years later. In a modern processor alone, their number reaches 700 million. The first computer weighed many tons and occupied large areas. But personal computers they showed up anyway - much later...

I think that for now we should not expect devices of this class to appear in our stores in the near future. Many are waiting for them. Especially cryptocurrency miners argue a lot about this. Scientists look at him with hope, and military men look at him with close attention. The potential of this development, as we understand it, is not completely clear.

It is only clear that when it all starts working, it will drag the entire knowledge-intensive industry forward with it. New technologies, new industries, new software will gradually appear.. Time will tell. If only our own quantum computer, given to us at birth, does not let people down - this is our head. So, don’t rush to throw your gadgets into the trash just yet. They will serve you for a long time. Write if the article was interesting. Come back often. Goodbye!

About quantum computing, according to at least in theory, they have been saying this for several decades. Modern types machines using non-classical mechanics to process potentially unimaginable amounts of data were a major breakthrough. According to the developers, their implementation turned out to be perhaps the most complex technology ever created. Quantum processors operate at levels of matter that humanity only learned about 100 years ago. The potential of such computing is enormous. Using the bizarre properties of quanta will speed up calculations, so many problems that are currently beyond the capabilities of classical computers will be solved. And not only in the field of chemistry and materials science. Wall Street is also interested.

Investing in the future

CME Group has invested in Vancouver-based 1QB Information Technologies Inc., which develops software for quantum processors. According to investors, such computing will likely have the greatest impact on industries that deal with large volumes time sensitive data. An example of such consumers are financial institutions. Goldman Sachs invested in D-Wave Systems, and In-Q-Tel is funded by the CIA. The first produces machines that do what is called “quantum annealing,” i.e., solving low-level optimization problems using a quantum processor. Intel is also investing in this technology, although he considers its implementation a matter of the future.

Why is this necessary?

The reason quantum computing is so exciting is because of its perfect combination with machine learning. This is currently the main application for such calculations. Part of the idea of ​​a quantum computer is using a physical device to find solutions. Sometimes this concept is explained using the example of the game Angry Birds. To simulate gravity and the interaction of colliding objects, the tablet's CPU uses mathematical equations. Quantum processors turn this approach on its head. They "throw" a few birds and see what happens. Birds are recorded on a microchip, they are thrown, what is the optimal trajectory? Then everything is checked possible solutions or at least a very large combination of them, and the answer is given. In a quantum computer there is no mathematician, the laws of physics work instead.

How does it work?

The basic building blocks of our world are quantum mechanical. If you look at molecules, the reason they form and remain stable is the interaction of their electron orbitals. All quantum mechanical calculations are contained in each of them. Their number grows exponentially with the number of simulated electrons. For example, for 50 electrons there are 2 to the 50th power possible options. This is phenomenal, so it is impossible to calculate it today. Connecting information theory to physics can point the way to solving such problems. A 50-qubit computer can do this.

Dawn of a new era

According to Landon Downs, president and co-founder of 1QBit, a quantum processor is an opportunity to use computing power subatomic world, which is of great importance for obtaining new materials or creating new drugs. There is a shift from the paradigm of discovery to a new era of design. For example, quantum computing can be used to model catalysts that remove carbon and nitrogen from the atmosphere and thereby help stop global warming.

At the forefront of progress

The technology development community is extremely excited and active. Teams around the world in startups, corporations, universities and government labs are racing to build machines that use different approaches to processing quantum information. Superconducting qubit chips and trapped ion qubits have been created by researchers from the University of Maryland and the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. Microsoft is developing a topological approach called Station Q, which aims to exploit a non-Abelian anion that has not yet been conclusively proven to exist.

The year of a possible breakthrough

And this is just the beginning. As of the end of May 2017, the number of quantum processors that clearly do something faster or better than a classical computer is zero. Such an event would establish “quantum supremacy,” but it has not yet occurred. Although it is likely that this could happen this year. Most insiders say the clear favorite is the Google team led by UC Santa Barbara physics professor John Martini. Its goal is to achieve computational superiority using a 49-qubit processor. By the end of May 2017, the team had successfully tested a 22-qubit chip as an intermediate step toward disassembling a classic supercomputer.

Where did it all start?

The idea of ​​using quantum mechanics to process information has been around for decades. One of the key events occurred in 1981, when IBM and MIT jointly organized a conference on the physics of computing. The famous physicist proposed building a quantum computer. According to him, quantum mechanics should be used for modeling. And this is a great task because it doesn't look so easy. The quantum processor's operating principle is based on several strange properties of atoms - superposition and entanglement. A particle can be in two states at the same time. However, when measured, it will appear in only one of them. And it is impossible to predict which one, except from the perspective of probability theory. This effect is the basis of the thought experiment of Schrödinger's cat, which is both alive and dead in a box until an observer sneaks a peek. Nothing in Everyday life doesn't work that way. However, about 1 million experiments conducted since the beginning of the 20th century show that superposition does exist. And the next step is to figure out how to use this concept.

Quantum processor: job description

Classic bits can take the value 0 or 1. If you pass their string through “logical gates” (AND, OR, NOT, etc.), you can multiply numbers, draw images, etc. A qubit can take values ​​0, 1 or both at the same time. If, say, 2 qubits are entangled, then this makes them perfectly correlated. A quantum processor can use logic gates. T.n. The Hadamard gate, for example, places the qubit in a state of perfect superposition. When superposition and entanglement are combined with cleverly placed quantum gates, the potential of subatomic computing begins to unfold. 2 qubits allow you to explore 4 states: 00, 01, 10 and 11. The principle of operation of a quantum processor is such that the execution logical operation makes it possible to work with all positions at once. And the number of available states is 2 to the power of the number of qubits. So, if you made a 50-qubit universal quantum computer, you could theoretically explore all 1.125 quadrillion combinations at once.

Kudits

The quantum processor in Russia is seen somewhat differently. Scientists from MIPT and the Russian Quantum Center have created “qudits,” which are several “virtual” qubits with different “energy” levels.

Amplitudes

A quantum processor has the advantage that quantum mechanics is based on amplitudes. Amplitudes are similar to probability, but they can also be negative and complex numbers. So, if you need to calculate the probability of an event, you can add up the amplitudes of all possible options for their development. The idea behind quantum computing is to try to tune it so that some paths to wrong answers have a positive amplitude and some have a negative amplitude, so they cancel each other out. And the paths leading to the correct answer would have amplitudes that are in phase with each other. The trick is to organize everything without knowing in advance which answer is correct. So the exponential nature of quantum states, combined with the potential for interference between positive and negative amplitudes, is an advantage of this type of calculation.

Shor's algorithm

There are many problems that a computer cannot solve. For example, encryption. The problem is that it is not so easy to find prime factors of a 200-digit number. Even if your laptop runs great software, you may have to wait years to find the answer. So another milestone in quantum computing was an algorithm published in 1994 by Peter Shore, now a professor of mathematics at MIT. His method is to find the multipliers large number using a quantum computer that did not yet exist. Essentially, the algorithm performs operations that point to areas with the correct answer. The following year, Shor discovered a method for quantum error correction. Then many realized that it was alternative way computing, which in some cases can be more powerful. Then there was a surge of interest on the part of physicists in the creation of qubits and logic gates between them. And now, two decades later, humanity is on the verge of creating a full-fledged quantum computer.

Humanity, like 60 years ago, is again on the verge of a grandiose breakthrough in the field of computing technologies. Very soon to replace today's computers Quantum computers will come.

How far has the progress come?

Back in 1965, Gordon Moore said that in a year the number of transistors that fit on a silicon microchip doubles. This pace of progress Lately has slowed down, and doubling occurs less frequently - once every two years. Even this pace will allow transistors to reach the size of an atom in the near future. Next is a line that cannot be crossed. From the point of view of the physical structure of the transistor, it cannot in any way be smaller than atomic quantities. Increasing the chip size does not solve the problem. The operation of transistors involves the release of thermal energy, and processors need quality system cooling. Multi-core architecture also does not solve the issue of further growth. Reaching the peak in technology development modern processors will happen soon.
Developers came to understand this problem at a time when users were just beginning to have personal computers. In 1980, one of the founders of quantum information science, Soviet professor Yuri Manin, formulated the idea of ​​quantum computing. A year later, Richard Feyman proposed the first model of a computer with a quantum processor. Theoretical basis Paul Benioff formulated what quantum computers should look like.

How a quantum computer works

To understand how it works new processor, you must have at least a superficial knowledge of the principles of quantum mechanics. There is no point in giving mathematical layouts and formulas here. It is enough for the average person to become familiar with the three distinctive features of quantum mechanics:

• The state or position of a particle is determined only with some degree of probability.
• If a particle can have several states, then it is in all possible states at once. This is the principle of superposition.
• The process of measuring the state of a particle leads to the disappearance of superposition. It is characteristic that the knowledge about the state of the particle obtained by the measurement differs from the real state of the particle before the measurements.

From the point of view of common sense - complete nonsense. In our ordinary world, these principles can be represented as follows: the door to the room is closed, and at the same time open. Closed and open at the same time.

This is the striking difference between calculations. A conventional processor operates in its actions binary code. Computer bits can only be in one state - have a logical value of 0 or 1. Quantum computers operate with qubits, which can have a logical value of 0, 1, 0 and 1 at once. For solving certain problems, they will have a multimillion-dollar advantage over traditional computing machines. Today there are already dozens of descriptions of work algorithms. Programmers create a special program code, which can work according to new principles of calculations.

Where will the new computer be used?

A new approach to the computing process allows you to work with huge amounts of data and perform instant computational operations. With the advent of the first computers, some people, including government officials, had great skepticism regarding their use in the national economy. There are still people today who are full of doubts about the importance of computers of a fundamentally new generation. For a very long time, technical journals refused to publish articles on quantum computing, considering this area a common fraudulent ploy to fool investors.

A new method of computing will create the preconditions for grandiose scientific discoveries in all industries. Medicine will solve many problematic issues, of which quite a lot have accumulated recently. It will become possible to diagnose cancer at an earlier stage of the disease than now. The chemical industry will be able to synthesize products with unique properties.

A breakthrough in astronautics will not be long in coming. Flights to other planets will become as commonplace as daily trips around the city. The potential inherent in quantum computing will certainly transform our planet beyond recognition.

Other distinctive feature that quantum computers have is the ability of quantum computing to quickly find required code or cipher. An ordinary computer performs a mathematical optimization solution sequentially, trying one option after another. The quantum competitor works with the entire array of data at once, selecting the most suitable options at lightning speed in an unprecedentedly short time. Bank operations will be decrypted in the blink of an eye, which is inaccessible to modern computers.

However, the banking sector need not worry - its secret will be saved by the quantum encryption method with a measurement paradox. When you try to open the code, the transmitted signal will be distorted. The information received will not make any sense. Secret services, for whom espionage is a common practice, are interested in the possibilities of quantum computing.

Design difficulties

The difficulty lies in creating conditions under which a quantum bit can remain in a state of superposition indefinitely.

Each qubit is a microprocessor that operates on the principles of superconductivity and the laws of quantum mechanics.

A number of unique conditions are created around the microscopic elements of a logical machine. environment:

• temperature 0.02 degrees Kelvin (-269.98 Celsius);
• protection system against magnetic and electrical radiation (reduces the impact of these factors by 50 thousand times);
• heat removal and vibration damping system;
• air rarefaction below atmospheric pressure 100 billion times.

A slight deviation in the environment causes the qubits to instantly lose their superposition state, resulting in malfunction.

Ahead of the rest of the planet

All of the above could be attributed to the creativity of the fevered mind of a writer of science fiction stories, if Google company Together with NASA, it did not purchase last year from the Canadian research corporation the D-Wave quantum computer, the processor of which contains 512 qubits.

With its help, the market leader computer technology will resolve issues machine learning in sorting and analyzing large data sets.

Snowden, who left the United States, also made an important revealing statement - the NSA also plans to develop its own quantum computer.

2014 - the beginning of the era of D-Wave systems

Successful Canadian athlete Geordie Rose, after a deal with Google and NASA, began building a 1000-qubit processor. The future model will exceed the first commercial prototype by at least 300 thousand times in speed and volume of calculations. The quantum computer, the photo of which is located below, is the world's first commercial version of the fundamental new technology calculations.

He was prompted to engage in scientific development by his acquaintance at the university with the works of Colin Williams on quantum computing. It must be said that Williams today works at Rose's corporation as a business project manager.

Breakthrough or scientific hoax

Rose himself does not fully know what quantum computers are. In ten years, his team has gone from creating a 2-qubit processor to today's first commercial brainchild.

From the very beginning of his research, Rose sought to create a processor with a minimum number of qubits of 1 thousand. And he definitely had to have a commercial option - in order to sell and make money.

Many, knowing Rose's obsession and commercial acumen, are trying to accuse him of forgery. Allegedly, the most ordinary processor is passed off as quantum. This is also facilitated by the fact that the new technology exhibits phenomenal performance when performing certain types of calculations. Otherwise, it behaves like a completely ordinary computer, only very expensive.

When will they appear

There's not long to wait. A research group organized by the joint purchasers of the prototype will report on the results of the research on D-Wave in the near future.
Perhaps the time is coming soon in which quantum computers will revolutionize our understanding of the world around us. And all of humanity at this moment will reach a higher level of its evolution.

In recent decades, computers have developed very quickly. In fact, within the memory of one generation, they have gone from bulky lamp-based ones that occupy huge rooms to miniature tablets. Memory and speed increased rapidly. But the moment came when tasks appeared that were beyond the control of even super-powerful modern computers.

What is a quantum computer?

The emergence of new tasks beyond the control of ordinary computers, forced me to look for new opportunities. And, as an alternative to conventional computers, quantum computers appeared. A quantum computer is a computing technology based on elements of quantum mechanics. The basic principles of quantum mechanics were formulated at the beginning of the last century. Its appearance made it possible to solve many problems in physics that could not find solutions in classical physics.

Although quantum theory is already in its second century, it still remains understandable only to a narrow circle of specialists. But there is also real results quantum mechanics, to which we are already accustomed - laser technology, tomography. And at the end of the last century, the theory of quantum computing was developed by the Soviet physicist Yu. Manin. Five years later, David Deutsch unveiled the idea of ​​a quantum machine.

Does a quantum computer exist?

But the implementation of ideas turned out to be not so simple. From time to time, reports appear that another quantum computer has been created. On the development of such computer technology There are giants in the field of information technology:

1. D-Wave is a company from Canada that was the first to produce operational quantum computers. Nevertheless, there is debate among experts about how quantum these computers really are and what advantages they provide.
2. IBM created a quantum computer, and opened access to it for Internet users to experiment with quantum algorithms. By 2025, the company plans to create a model capable of solving practical problems.
3. Google has announced the release this year of a computer capable of proving the superiority of quantum over conventional computers.
4. In May 2017, Chinese scientists in Shanghai announced that they had created the most powerful quantum computer in the world, exceeding analogues in signal processing frequency by 24 times.
5. In July 2017, at the Moscow Conference on Quantum Technologies, it was announced that a 51-qubit quantum computer had been created.

How does a quantum computer differ from a conventional one?

The fundamental difference between a quantum computer is its approach to the calculation process.

1. In a conventional processor, all calculations are based on bits that have two states, 1 or 0. That is, all work comes down to analysis huge amount data for compliance with specified conditions. A quantum computer is based on qubits (quantum bits). Their feature is the ability to be in the state 1, 0, and also 1 and 0 at the same time.
2. The capabilities of a quantum computer increase significantly, since there is no need to search for the desired answer among many. In this case, the answer is selected from already available options with a certain probability of matching.

What is a quantum computer used for?

The principle of a quantum computer, built on choosing a solution with a sufficient degree of probability and the ability to find such a solution many times faster than modern computers, determines the purposes of its use. First of all, the emergence of this type of computing technology worries cryptographers. This is due to the quantum computer's ability to easily calculate passwords. Thus, the most powerful quantum computer created by Russian-American scientists is capable of obtaining the keys to existing systems encryption.

There are also more useful applied problems for quantum computers, they are related to the behavior of elementary particles, genetics, healthcare, financial markets, protecting networks from viruses, artificial intelligence and many others that ordinary computers cannot yet solve.

How does a quantum computer work?

The design of a quantum computer is based on the use of qubits. The following are currently used as physical executions of qubits:

• rings made of superconductors with jumpers, with multidirectional current;
• individual atoms exposed to laser beams;
• ions;
• photons;
• Options for using semiconductor nanocrystals are being developed.

Quantum computer - operating principle

If there is certainty in how a classical computer works, then the question of how a quantum computer works is not easy to answer. The description of the operation of a quantum computer is based on two phrases that are obscure to most:

• superposition principle– we are talking about qubits that can be simultaneously in positions 1 and 0. This allows you to carry out several calculations at the same time, rather than sort through options, which gives a big gain in time;
• quantum entanglement- a phenomenon noted by A. Einstein, which consists in the interrelation of two particles. In simple words, if one of the particles has positive helicity, then the second instantly takes on positive helicity. This relationship occurs regardless of distance.

Who invented the quantum computer?

The basis of quantum mechanics was outlined at the very beginning of the last century as a hypothesis. Its development is associated with such brilliant physicists as Max Planck, A. Einstein, Paul Dirac. In 1980, Yu. Antonov proposed the idea of ​​​​the possibility of quantum computing. A year later, Richard Feineman theoretically modeled the first quantum computer.

Now the creation of quantum computers is in the development stage and it is even difficult to imagine what a quantum computer is capable of. But it is absolutely clear that mastering this direction will bring people many new discoveries in all areas of science, will allow them to look into the micro and macro world, and learn more about the nature of the mind and genetics.