Quantum Computing (QC)
- Computing with quantum systems was proposed by Richard Feynman in one of his lectures in 1982.
- Quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, instead of classical bits.
- A qubit can take a 0 or 1 or a superposition of both.
- The “principle of superposition” is a fundamental property of the quantum scale.
- Among Several paradigms and hardware implementations two common approaches are adiabatic quantum computation (AQC) and gate model QC.
- The United Nations has said 2025 will be designated the ‘International Year of Quantum Science and Technology’.
- The proclamation originated from a resolution led by Mexico in May 2023, gaining support from nearly 60 countries by November and adopted by the UNESCO General Conference. In May this year, Ghana submitted a draft resolution to the U.N. General Assembly, backed by over 70 countries, seeking an official proclamation
- Next year will be a century since the German physicist Werner Heisenberg published a famous paper laying the foundation stone of what would come to be called quantum mechanics.
- He was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics seven years later, roughly around the time he devised his famous uncertainty principle.
- According to the UN statement, the proclamation has also received the endorsements of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the International Union of Crystallography, and the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology.
- While fully operational machines of this type don’t yet exist.
- The Government of India announced a ‘National Quantum Mission’ in April 2023 for Rs 6,000 crore, to be implemented from 2023 to 2031 by the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
- It will have four verticals: quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing and metrology, and quantum materials and devices.
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty principle, 1927
It states that we cannot know both the position and speed of a particle, such as a photon or an electron, with perfect accuracy; the more we nail down the particle’s position, the less we know about its speed and vice versa.
Dig Deeper: What is LK99, and what is its role in implementing quantum computers?
