Quantum computer anyone?

[acetnt367th]

http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?newsID=7972&pagtype=all


Wonder if it will run AH




Acetnt (not playing as yet  but still around)

[Sundowner]

Here is a report on the results from the quantum computer demo this week.

Prepare to have your mind expanded

http://news.com.com/Start-up+demos+quantum+computer/2100-1008_3-6159152.html?tag=nefd.top

Be sure to check out some pretty impressive quantum computer hardware photos in the CNET gallery here (from the article):

http://news.com.com/2300-1008_3-6159158-1.html

Notable quotes from the report:

Even with the explanations, quantum concepts can be a little tough to digest. Rose reminded the audience that humans consist of atoms that first appeared in a supernova billions of years ago. Trying to understand those atomic interactions that lead up to the present is at the heart of quantum computing.

"When I went to school, they didn't teach quantum mechanics," Martin said. "Newton was my boy."
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D-Wave's computer is based around a silicon chip that houses 16 "qubits," the equivalent of a storage bit in a conventional computer, connected to each other. Each qubit consists of dots of the element niobium surrounded by coils of wire.

When electrical current comes down the wire, magnetic fields are generated, which, in turn, causes the change in the state of the qubit. Because scientists understand how niobium will react to magnetic fields and calculate the exact pattern and timing of the magnetic fields created, the pattern of changes exhibited by the niobium can then be translated into an answer that humans can understand.
"The qubits behave according to a certain set of rules," said founder and Chief Technology Officer Geordie Rose, who likened quantum computing to trying to decipher the language of atoms. "Quantum computing is the translation of those laws into a format that we can take."
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By the end of the year, however, D-Wave will have a 32-qubit system....
By the second quarter of 2008, the company plans to have a 512-qubit system, and a 1,024-qubit system is expected by the end of that year.
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Regards,
Sun