Quantum computing is an area of computing mainly focused on developing new and innovative computer technology based on the principles of quantum theory and it is the exploitation of collective properties of quantum states. Computers that are used today can only encode information in bits that take the value of 1 or 0-restricting their ability but quantum computers can encode in qubits.

Quantum computing, on the other hand mainly focuses on using quantum bits or qubits. Quantum computing supports the unique ability of subatomic particles that allows them to exist in more than one state .

KEY TAKEWAYS                  

• Quantum Computing is the study of how to use phenomena in quantum physics to create new ways of computing.
• Quantum computing is made up of qubits.
• Unlike a normal computer bot, which can be 0 or 1, a qubit can be either of those, or a superposition of both 0 and 1.
• The power of quantum computers grows exponentially with more qubits.
• This is unlike classical computers, where adding more transistors only add power linearly.

Quantum computing is a recent and exciting field at the junction of mathematics, computer science and physics. It concerns with the utilization of quantum mechanics to improve the efficiency and accuracy of computation or calculation. Quantum computing is the utilization of collective properties of quantum states, such as superposition (the situation in which two or more quantum states are added together) and entanglement, to perform computation. Those devices which are used to perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Hence we can called the study of quantum computing is a subfield of quantum information science.

History of Quantum Computing

Quantum computing began in 1980 when physicist Paul Benioff   proposed a quantum mechanical model of the Turing machine. Richard Feynman and Yuri Manin later suggested that a quantum computer had the potential to simulate things a classical computer could not feasibly do. In 1994, Peter Shor developed a quantum algorithm for factoring integers with the potential to decrypt RSA-encrypted communications. Despite ongoing experimental progress since the late 1990s, most researchers believe that “fault-tolerant quantum computing still a rather distant dream. In recent years, investment in quantum computing research has increased in the public and private sectors. On 23 October 2019, Google AI, in partnership with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA), claimed to have performed a quantum computation that was infeasible on any classical computer.

Quantum Computing Applications

• Cybersecurity
• Drug Development
• Financial Modeling
• Better Batteries
• Cleaner Fertilization
• Traffic Optimization
• Weather Forecasting and Climate Change
• Artificial Intelligence
• Solar Capture
• Electronic Materials Discovery

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence and machine learning are some of the extuberant areas right now, as the emerging technologies have penetrated almost every aspect of human’s lives. Some of the widespread applications we see in our daily life are in voice, image and handwriting recognition. However, as the number of applications increased, it becomes challenging task for traditional computers, to match up the accuracy and speed. Quantum computing can help in processing via complex problems in very less time, whereas traditional would have taken computers thousand of years.

Drug Design and Development

Designing and developing a drug is the most challenging problem in quantum computing. Usually, drugs are being developed via the trial and error method, which is not only very expensive but also a risky and challenging task to complete. Researchers believe quantum computing can be effective way of understanding the drugs and its reactions on humans which, in turn, can save a ton of money and time for drug companies.

Cybersecurity and Cryptography

Cybersecurity is an essential concern around the world due to the increasing number of cyber – attacks on daily basis. Peoples’s increasing dependency on digitization, we are becoming even more vulnerable to these threats. Quantum computing with the help of machine learning can help in developing various techniques to combat these cybersecurity threats.

 

These are some of the applications areas of quantum computing.

 

Advantages of Quantum Computing

1. The main advantage of quantum computing is that it is even classical algorithm calculations. They are also performed easily which is similar to the classical computer.
2. If we are adding the qubits to the register we increase its storage capacity exponentially.
3. In this computing qubit is the conventional superposition state. So there are advantages of exponential speedup to the resulted by handle the number of calculations and method.
4. Quantum computing required less power.
5. The other advantage of quantum computing is it can execute any task very faster and very accurately compared to a classical computer. Generally, the atom changes very faster in the case of traditional computing whereas in quantum computing it changes even faster.

Disadvantages of Quantum Computing

1. The research for this problem is still continuing the effort applied to identify a solution for this problem that has no positive progress.
2. Qubits are not digital bits of the day thus they cannot use as conventional error correction.
3. The main disadvantage of quantum computing is the technology required to implement a quantum computer is not available at present days.
4. The minimum energy requirement for quantum logical operations is five times that of classical computers.
5. Quantum CPU will have efficiency and heating problems of its own.
6. When the measurement of any type is made to a quantum system, decoherence is totally broken down and the wave function collapses into a single state.