Compared to the bulky and huge computers that might take up a whole room a century ago, the portable and efficient laptops most college students carry around nowadays prove a remarkable progress. Yet, although the size and efficiency of computer have improved significantly, its functioning principle remained essentially the same.
Conventional computers’ storage and processing processes are accomplished using witches called transistors. A transistor can only either be on or off: if on, it can store a number one (1), if it's off, it stores a number zero (0). As we had discussed in class, this binary digit (bit) system has some limitations. The more information the computer needs to store, the more binary ones and zeros—and transistors—it needs to handle. Since most conventional computers can only do one step at a time, there’s a finite amount of data that can be processed. Some complex algorithms thus “might require more computing power and time than any modern machine could reasonably supply” (ExplainThatStuff).
Theoretically, quantum computing could offer a solution to this problem and even build a whole new generation of computers. Instead of running on electrical circuits as ‘bits”, quantum computers will utilize “tiny particles that are magnetically suspended in extremely cold environment, called quantum bits or “qubits” (Science Alert). One particular advantage “qubits” have is that they can take on the value of 0, 1, both, or an infinite number of values in between; and store multiple values simultaneously. This parallel processing feature gives quantum computers much greater computing ability than traditional ones. Its performance in such tasks as processing massive calculations, rendering complex graphics animations, or cracking encryption by brute force, would be significantly faster. If successfully developed, quantum computers thus will be essential to some specific fields such as encryption or graphics.
Currently, quantum computing researchers faced many limitations that are often contingent on advances in superconductors, nanotechnology, and quantum electronics — equally complicated research fields. However, there have been many promising progress in quantum computing. For example, in 2000, “MIT professor Isaac Chuang used five fluorine atoms to make a crude, five-qubit quantum computer. Five years later, researchers at the University of Innsbruck produced the first quantum computer that could manipulate a qubyte (eight qubits)” (ExplainThatStuff).
Sources:
http://www.explainthatstuff.com/quantum-computing.html
http://www.sciencealert.com/watch-quantum-computing-explained-in-less-than-2-minutes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computing
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