Quantum computing leaps into view

HearIT, Molecular computing; Jack Vaughan (2:57;
RA,
WM)

NEWS ANALYSIS -- IBM scientists recently furthered the cause of
quantum computing, announcing they had solved an order-finding mathematical problem in
a single cycle using fluorine atoms -- instead of the usual silicon gates -- as the
computing elements. The achievement may be the best evidence to date that an
architecture based on atoms and nuclei can solve multi-step problems that overwhelm
even the most powerful of traditional computers.

Although the researchers advise that the experiment was modest, these and other
advances suggest to some that smaller and abler architectures may arise in the future
to help the computer industry push on to new levels of processing power.

For years, concerns have grown about the limits of semiconductor electronics as the
limits of Gordon Moore's Law have been approached.

Intel founder Moore said that the number of transistors the industry could place on a
silicon chip would double every year or two. The conventional means of pushing hordes
of electrons around in order to do calculations has worked, of course, and smaller and
smaller chip dice have meant larger memory and faster processing.

The most immediate obstacle to further miniaturization is that current chip lithography
techniques are nearing their ultimate resolution. To go smaller, chip makers will have
to employ new x-ray fabrication techniques, which will be quite expensive to implement.

But even with better chip fab technology, experts see an eventual breakdown in that
trend as the size of silicon logic gates shrinks down to the size of atoms.

Qubit power

While pursuing molecular computing research, IBM and other researchers decided to
explore a somewhat non-Boolean approach that is based on the complex states of quantum
matter.

The team included scientists from IBM's Almaden Research Center, Stanford University,
and the University of Calgary. The group fashioned fluorine atoms as qubits, computing
units that exploit the quantum physical properties of matter to represent a spectrum of
states, not just Boolean 0's and 1's as in conventional digital computing.

Isaac "Ike" Chuang, the IBM research staff member who led the team, said the first
applications for quantum computing will probably be on coprocessors for specific
functions such as database lookup. He also sees the technology addressing mathematical
problems such as the Traveling Salesman problem that tries to compute the best route
between many locations. Those problems can overcome conventional computers.

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