Quantum Devices and Computers We have heard how quantum computers are going to revolutionize the world. Supposedly, they will be able to solve problems which were impossible for conventional computers to solve. What we haven’t heard much about are quantum devices. Different quantum parts will be able to be assembled in ways which will create devices which will have capabilities far beyond the ones they replaced. They will also be devices invented which don’t exist right now. I thought it might be interesting to look into some of these devices which are on the horizon and some of which might already be in use. Scientists have just demonstrated a new type of radar which is based on quantum physics. It uses the mysterious force of quantum entanglement to operate. In case you have forgotten, quantum entanglement is very strange and operates by changing an atom which will then change another atom no matter how far away it is and do it instantly. It doesn’t depend on distance and speed, it is instantaneous. The new type of radar is called Microwave Quantum Illumination. One of the advantages of this type of radar is said to be it can detect an object even if it is in a noisy thermal environment where other radars fail. Another advantage is in biomedical scanning because this type of scan will use hardly any energy since it will be ultra-low power. Getting back to quantum computers scientists are now claiming they have found a way to speed up quantum computing using a logarithm which counts quantum dots automatically. What this means is they will be able to measure the electron spin of an individual electron which is essential to quantum computing and will also improve machine learning by quantum computing. To put it more in language we have been hearing lately, scientists will now be able to control qubits and automatically measure them which will make large-scale applications much easier to handle and solve. Scientists want to look for material which will be better suited for quantum computers. A group of scientists and engineers claim to have created a photonic integrated chip which can be thermally adjusted by applying an electronic signal. While they say this will be able to be used in a large variety of devices, they claim it will be invaluable in quantum information processing. They want to change what computer chips are made out of. The idea is to switch to silicon carbide which is more applicable to what they want to do. They claim these new chips will be easier to work with because the material can be optically controlled and manipulated as quantum bits. One of the problems with quantum computing is it creates a lot of errors which have to be corrected before a solution to an application can be found. This problem is on the forefront of experimentation by labs everywhere. What the scientists and engineers are trying to do is get rid of random fluctuations because this can destroy the stored data. Instead of trying to correct every possible error, scientists at MIT have suggested just correcting the ones which are most likely to appear. The United States Army has announced it now has a device which will soon help develop a quantum network. In case you’re wondering why they are so excited over this; it is because of the claim it can never be wiretapped and it would become a way for extremely powerful computing and sensing. Researchers have already constructed a test networking apparatus which uses rubidium atoms which they trap in laser beams and cool to nearly absolute zero. "Most leading quantum information platforms are working toward increased capacity bit-by-bit," "This includes, for example, quantum computers based on trapped atomic ions that increase their computing power by trapping ions one-by-one. Our platform is distinct because we use a large ensemble of atoms, over a million, and instead store quantum excitations as patterns or images." One of the problems with quantum computing has just been solved. The problem is how do you develop a quantum memory for storing data. A new way to do this has just been developed and is the first nanoscale optical quantum memory. As you can imagine this is a very exciting breakthrough. It was very exciting in classical computers when a memory chip was first developed and before that happened many different techniques were used some of which we might have laughed at today. I am talking about the use of cathode ray tubes which early developers kept on and stored data on their screens. Quantum entanglement is being tested in labs all over the planet as I said. Scientists are trying to be able to prove distance is no barrier and a US research team has figured out how to allow this to take place in buildings all over one of the college campuses. When we finally figure this problem completely out, we will be able to change atoms instantly as far away as the edge of our universe. This could become very useful in many ways which we haven’t even figured out yet. I think one of those ways would be instant long-range communications no matter how far out a spaceship is. Certain things will be needed on quantum computers just like there are classical computers where some of the parts probably won’t be interchangeable. For example, new very tiny resistors which have a very high value have been produced for nanoscale quantum computers. This was accomplished years ago. We just keep ticking along, improving quantum computer and device abilities. Some people believe quantum devices may come to pass which equal some of those devices which were shown on Star Trek. One of them is the food replicator. They feel it is only a matter of time before we use quantum computing to create this device. Another device they are looking forward to is one which gives a readout to a doctor of every vital function of the body such as the one on Star Trek in the sickbay. I can’t really make fun of this idea because quantum devices and computers could be capable of almost anything and we are yet to know the answer of where their limitations lie if any. It is hard to even imagine the advanced weapons which will be invented or improved because of quantum devices. We humans have an unfortunate trait, we apply our most advanced science to building weapons which are designed to kill other humans. The world would be so much better if we would apply this science to making life more comfortable for everyone. As a realist I know this will never happen and future wars will just become much more terrible.
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