Book Image

Dancing with Qubits

By : Robert S. Sutor
5 (1)
Book Image

Dancing with Qubits

5 (1)
By: Robert S. Sutor

Overview of this book

Quantum computing is making us change the way we think about computers. Quantum bits, a.k.a. qubits, can make it possible to solve problems that would otherwise be intractable with current computing technology. Dancing with Qubits is a quantum computing textbook that starts with an overview of why quantum computing is so different from classical computing and describes several industry use cases where it can have a major impact. From there it moves on to a fuller description of classical computing and the mathematical underpinnings necessary to understand such concepts as superposition, entanglement, and interference. Next up is circuits and algorithms, both basic and more sophisticated. It then nicely moves on to provide a survey of the physics and engineering ideas behind how quantum computing hardware is built. Finally, the book looks to the future and gives you guidance on understanding how further developments will affect you. Really understanding quantum computing requires a lot of math, and this book doesn't shy away from the necessary math concepts you'll need. Each topic is introduced and explained thoroughly, in clear English with helpful examples.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Preface
13
Afterword

11.10 Summary

In this chapter we connected the ‘‘logical’’ idea of qubits and circuits with the ‘‘physical’’ idea of how you might build a quantum computer. We looked at the polarization of light to show a physical quantum system, and used our ket notation to understand the unusual effect we observe when using three filters. Through this we could see that the theory of quantum mechanics does seem to provide a good model for what we experimentally observe, at least in this case.

Real qubits don’t survive forever and decoherence explains the several ways in which quantum states wander over time. While we do not yet have large enough systems to implement fault tolerance, we examined what error correction might be able to do in the quantum realm.

We need to be able to measure the progress we are making and answer questions like ‘‘how powerful is your quantum computer?’’. The definition...