In the previous track we've brushed up your knowledge on the group of scientists that laid the foundations of quantum mechanics. Now let's move into the world of bits and bytes.
Let's recap what Julia just said.
Normal computers calculate with bits that are either up(1) or down(0). But in the quantum world, we don’t have to choose between these two conditions. In the quantum world we get to work with qubits.
The evolution of computing
From tubes and transistors to integrated circuits....
To learn more about qubits we travel to Delft.
There we meet Anne-Marije Zwerver.
Computing with qubits
To explain how you can use qubits for computation, Anne-Marije has a riddle for you.
Did you understand the riddle?
So there are 8 doors. And you need to come up with the fastest way to figure out which door conceals the prize. Click further to answer this question.
The quantum world is built different!
Because the qubits are able to be in superposition, it takes less time to figure out behind which door you’ll find your prize. That means each extra qubit makes a quantum computer twice as powerful.
Do you understand the difference?
A regular old-fashioned computer will look at the doors one at a time and conclude YES (1) or NO (0) after each door. A quantum computer opens all of them at the same time and remembers whether each door concealed a prize or not.
That’s a bit different, but definitely faster.
Great, but how do you MAKE a qubit?
The scientists in Anne-Marije’s lab work with electrons. Just like you can catch pieces of iron with a magnet, they try to catch electrons.
Many ways to produce a qubit.
Scientists across the globe are working hard to find out which particles can be used in which ways. We’ve listed a couple of examples below:
Ultracold atoms
Quantum dots
Topological qubits
Superconducting qubits
Photonic qubits
In closing…
You learned a lot of new words in this chapter: bits, qubits, superposition and spin.
Now let's roll up our sleeves and see if we can build a computer with this.
