1AKHViYgBGbmxi8qiJkNvoHNeDu9m3MfPE (4355) ·
The field of quantum computing was launched in 1981, when Richard Feynman, speaking at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pointed out that a quantum computer could, in theory, simulate a molecule or material exactly, rather than just approximately.
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1AKHViYgBGbmxi8qiJkNvoHNeDu9m3MfPE (4355) ·
Caltech physicist John Preskill has termed this type of operation “noisy intermediate-scale quantum computing”
1AKHViYgBGbmxi8qiJkNvoHNeDu9m3MfPE (4355) ·
Today, rudimentary quantum computers consisting of up to dozens of interconnected qubits can crunch through 100 or so gate operations before crashing.
1AKHViYgBGbmxi8qiJkNvoHNeDu9m3MfPE (4355) ·
At the time, it was purely a thought experiment. But by the mid-1990s, physicists had produced qubits and demonstrated quantum logic gates, which are the building blocks of computer operations.
1AKHViYgBGbmxi8qiJkNvoHNeDu9m3MfPE (4355) ·
The quantum states of these qubits were easily disturbed by interactions with the environment—a formidable challenge that quantum-computer makers have struggled with ever since.