Here’s what happens according to quantum mechanics: Until you detect them on the screen, each photon exists in a state called “superposition.” It’s as though it’s traveling all possible paths at once. But somehow, you still end up with an interference pattern. Logically, each photon has to travel through a single slit, and they’ve got nothing to interfere with. Some light goes through the top slit, some the bottom, and the light waves knock into each other to create an interference pattern.īut now dim the light until you’re firing individual photons one by one-elementary particles that comprise light. The classic way to demonstrate quantum mechanics is by shining a light through a barrier with two slits. Quantum computers do this by substituting the binary “bits” of classical computing with something called “ qubits.” Qubits operate according to the mysterious laws of quantum mechanics: the theory that physics works differently at the atomic and subatomic scale.
What if, instead of solving the maze through trial and error, you could consider all possible routes simultaneously? If you think of a computer solving a problem as a mouse running through a maze, a classical computer finds its way through by trying every path until it reaches the end. This makes them extremely reliable, but it also makes them ill-suited for solving certain kinds of problems-in particular, problems where you’re trying to find a needle in a haystack.
Using a series of circuits, called “ gates,” computers perform logical operations based on the state of those switches.Ĭlassical computers are designed to follow specific inflexible rules.
Traditional computer processors work in binary-the billions of transistors that handle information on your laptop or smartphone are either on (1) or they’re off (0). And it’s those properties, as we’ll soon see, that could be harnessed to perform computational tasks that would be practically impossible on a classical computer. That’s the coldest temperature theoretically possible.Īt such low temperatures, the tiny superconducting circuits in the chip take on their quantum properties. It’s a supercharged refrigerator that uses a special liquified helium mix to cool the computer’s quantum chip down to near absolute zero. The outer part of this vessel is called the chandelier. Golden plates separate the structure into sections. They are arranged in layers that narrow as you move down. Instead of one slender twist of wire, it has organized silvery swarms of them, neatly braided around a core.
Imagine a lightbulb filament, hanging upside down, but it’s the most complicated light you’ve ever seen. But let’s start by describing one of the leading designs to help explain how it works. There are currently several ways to build a quantum computer.
A quantum computer is fundamentally different in both the way it looks, and ,more importantly, in the way it processes information. Maybe you see a normal computer- just bigger, with some mysterious physics magic going on inside? Forget laptops or desktops. If someone asked you to picture a quantum computer, what would you see in your mind?