The Fascinating Evolution of Quantum Computing: From Theory to Reality

The Fascinating Evolution of Quantum Computing: From Theory to Reality

Quantum computing is not just a fancy buzzword — it’s an entirely new way of thinking about computation. Imagine having a device which can find the right path in a maze, which can be done by exploring all the paths at the same time. Interesting isn’t it? Or more like science-fiction right? Well, that might be the near future which we are hoping to achieve which is already in a very good phase and progress.

Let me take you on a journey through the Interesting history and evolution of Quantum Computing or QC.

If you have not read the previous article about, Learning about Quantum Computing in an Intuitive way please check it out for the basics of QC.

The Initial Phase of Research: Which seeded the evolution for QCs — 1950 to 1980's

The early 1950s:

This was the time when everyone was interested and fascinated by the mysteries of physics and mathematics. Many Physicists like Bohr, Schrodinger, and Einstein were very busy understanding the concepts of the quantum world and quantum physics, and even Einstein called one of the concepts of quantum physics like quantum entanglement as “Spooky actions at a distance”. Many concepts like Wave functions, Entanglements, and Superpositions were discovered, which kept their interest in them for many years.

These were the early ages for both theoretical physics and computer science too, and many concepts looked weird and hard to grasp as there were no proper theories or even types of equipment to prove a hypothesis. But also sparked the idea: What if all this can be used the harness computation with a faster speed?”

Just a basic idea of how crazy some things are to understand is to think about superposition, is the idea of Schrödinger cat, or saying A coin is both heads and tails when it’s in the air.

The 1980’s:

In 1980, a very well-known physicist, also a Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman stated something, which might have been completed but later on became quite relevant what he was stating.

Nature isn’t classical, dammit, so if you want to make a simulation of nature, you’d better make it quantum mechanical. — Richard Feynman

But what he basically meant was classical approach or classical mechanics which we use to understand nature are not enough to simulate nature, we have to make a quantum-level understanding of things. But this is not only about physics but also can be comprehended towards traditional and quantum computers. Did he propose building a quantum computer which can carry on calculations based on quantum physics?

Then came David Deutsch, who took this idea and said, Hey, let’s formalise it. He introduced the Quantum Turing Machine, a theoretical model for a quantum computer that could solve anything a classical computer could — and more.

What was the vibe here? It was like someone had just sketched the blueprint for a spaceship. The vision was clear, but we had no clue how to actually build it.

1990’s to 2000’s: Prototyping and Baby Steps:

This was the time when everyone started understanding the power of QC, but not very capable of building one.=

In 1994: Peter Shor, created a leap by creating an algorithm that could factor large numbers which was exponentially faster the traditional computing, It's like breaking the unbreakable. But How does factoring numbers matter, what's the use of this? (Can this download my video games faster, Can this make me stream in 4K all the time?)

The main use-case for this was in cryptography Because most of the encryption algorithms use systems like RSA or AES etc. Which rely on large factors or prime numbers, and decoding them is nearly impossible in classical computers, making such an algorithm which can reduce the computational load exponentially was a game changer.

In modern terms, The task which is takes decades by a super computer to solve is done in seconds by a quantum computer, Interesting right?

Then the Man Lov Grover came along in 1996 and showed that quantum computers can also solve problems like speeding up search algorithms. Like finding a value in a database.

We will be discussing Grover's algorithm in detail in an upcoming article stay tuned for it, as we will be doing a hands-on search implementation using Python.

The early and Mid 2000's

This was the time when everyone was like enough for the time spent on learning and hypothesising let's put on some practical implications.

In 2001 IBM successfully ran Shor’s algorithm on a 7-qubit quantum computer, Yes it's a very small-scale computer comprising just 7 bits or qubits. Well, that's where it proved that quantum computing is not Sci-fi anymore.

It's like if you're on a path to build a big skyscraper and the basis of the building is to make a strong stand for it, and this proof by a 7-qubit computer was strong enough. The experiment was a way to prove that quantum algorithms, are real and can be used by an actual computer, But it gained a lot of attention from some big tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Facebook. All these tech giants understand the power of QC, and how they can help in having a lead over the business and revolutionary wise.

2010 to Present: Supremacy and Some Serious Competition

As I mentioned earlier, with tech giants entering this domain, the race got serious. The work and research on QC went from labs to the mainstream.

In 2011 Something big happened

IBM started offering access to their quantum computers to users via the cloud. This made researchers want to test their findings on a quantum computer without spending dozens of expenditures on maintaining a QC. And things were just getting started from here.

How can someone possibly think from that something which was early impossible, to making them accessible to everyone, every time and always.

The Quantum Supremacy

In 2019 All over the internet, Google claimed they have achieved quantum supremacy with their 54 qubit Sycamore processor. Which solved a problem in 200 seconds that would take a best traditional supercomputer 10,000 years.

What’s the catch? Google’s problem wasn’t practical — it was more of a stunt to show they could do it. Critics argued, It’s Cool, but how is this all useful.

Now In 2020, we are focusing on making QC’s more useful to real-world problems, not just solving some random problems to prove their supremacy over classical ones.

Some of the key developments which are carried out are :

  1. Scaling up: The amount of computation increases with the no of qubits a QC has, and everyone is focused on adding as many as qubits possible to build an efficient processor for solving problems. currently, this range is between hundreds and IBM one of the pioneers in QC is aiming for thousands shortly.
  2. Error Correction: QC’s are always prone to error, we need a proper mechanism or more efficient strategies to stabilise qubits for more reliable calculations.

Not to forget Maintaining a QC is a really big job, Which is because of the complex structure of it. The temperature, The timing, and The right amount of power all need to be aligned properly.

3. Applications in science: Quantum computers are starting to model complex molecules for drug discovery and simulate materials for better batteries.

Imagine some distant future like blade runner where we can get a cure for any disease in seconds with this computation power. (Wait does that mean we are going to be immortals? Meh maybe not)

So What's Next?

Quantum computers are still in an early development phase, but the amount of breakthroughs we are achieving is remarkable. We’re not at a point where QC will be replacing classical computers but there is good progress.

This can be considered as early stages of development for making an aeroplane or internet.

And that all is quite an interesting journey of quantum computers.

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