• Log in with Facebook Log in with Twitter Log In with Google      Sign In    
  • Create Account
  LongeCity
              Advocacy & Research for Unlimited Lifespans


Adverts help to support the work of this non-profit organisation. To go ad-free join as a Member.


Photo
- - - - -

The impending age of quantum computing!


  • Please log in to reply
13 replies to this topic

#1 Elus

  • Guest
  • 793 posts
  • 723
  • Location:Interdimensional Space

Posted 28 June 2010 - 09:52 PM




Most Efficient Quantum Memory for Light Developed

An Australian National University-led team has developed the most efficient quantum memory for light in the world, taking us closer to a future of super-fast computers and communication secured by the laws of physics.

Posted Image


The team at the ANU Research School of Physics and Engineering used a technique they pioneered to stop and control light from a laser, manipulating electrons in a crystal cooled to a chilly -270 degrees Celcius. The unprecedented efficiency and accuracy of the system allows the delicate quantum nature of the light to be stored, manipulated, and recalled.

"Light entering the crystal is slowed all the way to a stop, where it remains until we let it go again," explains lead researcher Morgan Hedges. "When we do let it go, we get out essentially everything that went in as a three-dimensional hologram, accurate right down to the last photon.

"Because of the inherent uncertainty in quantum mechanics, some of the information in this light will be lost the moment it is measured, making it a read-once hologram. Quantum mechanics guarantees this information can only be read once, making it perfect for secure communication."

The same efficient and accurate qualities make the memory a leading prospect for quantum computing, which has the potential to be many times faster and more powerful than contemporary computing.


In addition, the researchers say the light storage will allow tests of fundamental physics, such as how the bizarre phenomenon of quantum entanglement interacts with of the theory of relativity.

"We could entangle the quantum state of two memories, that is, two crystals," says team leader Dr Matthew Sellars. "According to quantum mechanics, reading out one memory will instantly alter what is stored in the other, no matter how large the distance between them. According to relativity, the way time passes for one memory is affected by how it moves. With a good quantum memory, an experiment to measure how these fundamental effects interact could be as simple as putting one crystal in the back of my car and going for a drive."

Dr Sellars' team has previously performed an experiment that 'stopped' light in a crystal for over a second, more than 1,000 times longer than was previously possible. He said that the team is now bringing together systems that combine the high efficiency with storage times of hours.

The research team includes Dr Jevon Longdell from the University of Otago and Dr Yongmin Li from Shanxi University. The findings are published in Nature.

Journal Reference:

  • Morgan P. Hedges, Jevon J. Longdell, Yongmin Li, Matthew J. Sellars. Efficient quantum memory for light. Nature, 2010; 465 (7301): 1052 DOI: 10.1038/nature09081



#2 Luna

  • Guest, F@H
  • 2,528 posts
  • 66
  • Location:Israel

Posted 29 June 2010 - 06:45 AM

umm.. what does it mean for us computer geeks and when?

#3 okok

  • Guest
  • 340 posts
  • 239

Posted 29 June 2010 - 03:25 PM

 Far as i know, quantum computing lends itself only to specific problems. It gets a lot of media attention, but viable applications are probably a long time off.

sponsored ad

  • Advert

#4 Reno

  • Guest
  • 584 posts
  • 37
  • Location:Somewhere

Posted 06 July 2010 - 05:45 PM

Supposedly, it can tell you answers to questions before you haven't asked. :blink:

It's also suppose to be able to run WOW without any lag.

#5 Elus

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 793 posts
  • 723
  • Location:Interdimensional Space

Posted 09 July 2010 - 08:46 PM

This will give you an idea about what the benefits might be, Luna:

http://www.computerp...27c02/27c02.asp

#6 okok

  • Guest
  • 340 posts
  • 239

Posted 10 July 2010 - 01:26 AM

If you like SF, a good read is Greg Egan's Quarantine.

Excerpt from his website:

The second problem is one I was alerted to by the complexity theorist Scott Aaronson, who pointed me to a 1997 paper, "Strengths and Weaknesses of Quantum Computing" by Charles H. Bennett, Ethan Bernstein, Gilles Brassard and Umesh Vazirani [1]. The upshot of this paper is that the "naive" notion of a quantum computer as being effectively equivalent to a large number of classical computers running in parallel is false.



#7 Luna

  • Guest, F@H
  • 2,528 posts
  • 66
  • Location:Israel

Posted 10 July 2010 - 04:34 AM

This will give you an idea about what the benefits might be, Luna:

http://www.computerp...27c02/27c02.asp


I can't read more than 13 lines into it, it wants me to pay to see the rest.

The short thing I can read had this sentence:

However, most computer scientists think quantum computing only will be beneficial for researchers and scientists performing overwhelmingly complex calculations


Isn't this what they said before about old computers? That they have no use at home?

Working with 3D Graphics I know that we have a lot of limitations today and if we were to suddenly double (or more) the power of the computers we could be doing a lot more.

Much faster computers definitely have personal use at home, for true Virtual Reality and whole new level of graphics with real time ray tracing and a lot of other things.

I don't get where those "smart people" get those ideas from that super fast computers have no personal use.

Edited by Luna, 10 July 2010 - 04:39 AM.


#8 Reno

  • Guest
  • 584 posts
  • 37
  • Location:Somewhere

Posted 10 July 2010 - 05:14 AM

Some people have doubled the overall speed of there computers through overclocking. You can overclock a 3ghz processor up to 4 and 5ghz if your careful. I've even heard of some people getting even higher speeds.

Experimental quantum computers are 10-20 years away. You can't really ask a question about what can be done with one, because we simply don't know. That's like asking what could be done with the internet 20 years before the BBS was invented. Anyone saying they can tell you what they're good for is talking out of their rear end.

#9 Luna

  • Guest, F@H
  • 2,528 posts
  • 66
  • Location:Israel

Posted 10 July 2010 - 05:28 AM

Well, CPU is not everything. We also need the GPU to be much faster. Also - Overclocking is risky, you need a really good cooling system and it may still fault. If it does fault, your warranty is canceled.

And as I said, it won't help the GPU much, you need both. You can overclock the GPU too, I know that, but not by much.

As for "what they can be used for" - almost everyone agrees that you can use it like a computer just many many times faster. If that is true, then I don't see a problem applying todays applications with much higher quality, performance and less limitations.

Edited by Luna, 10 July 2010 - 05:29 AM.


#10 Reno

  • Guest
  • 584 posts
  • 37
  • Location:Somewhere

Posted 10 July 2010 - 06:35 AM

umm.. what does it mean for us computer geeks and when?


Well, if you already know what one would be good for then you've answered your own question.

#11 Luna

  • Guest, F@H
  • 2,528 posts
  • 66
  • Location:Israel

Posted 10 July 2010 - 07:46 AM

umm.. what does it mean for us computer geeks and when?


Well, if you already know what one would be good for then you've answered your own question.


Not really, because I meant more of "when will it be out" "how much speed will it give us" "how much will it cost" "when will we be able to use it" (not just when it will be out) and "what other things might it show us that we don't know" which I have a bit of doubt that beyond performance we will such anything amazing, that's a software problem, not a hardware one I believe.

#12 Elus

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 793 posts
  • 723
  • Location:Interdimensional Space

Posted 10 July 2010 - 08:45 AM

Wow, why did that link become paid all of a sudden ? I was able to view it without paying the first time, but now I can't.

Anyway, the main point of that article was that it will be difficult to predict the uses of something that has so much potential computational power. That being said, it's likely that the 0 and 1 bit computers of today will coexist with the qubit quantum computers of tomorrow. Certain problems, such as factoring primes, are easily solvable by quantum computers. Other problems will still be in the domain of today's computers.

I think that this powerful new engine for computation will drive the revolution of protein and cell simulation. Also, when quantum computers are good enough, we might even see higher level physics simulations that we can't do today because we lack the power to of portraying complex atomic interactions in great detail.

The exciting potential for a virtual lab is also promising, but that requires extremely high end matter simulation and is just a potential idea.

Edited by Elus Efelier, 10 July 2010 - 08:47 AM.


#13 Luna

  • Guest, F@H
  • 2,528 posts
  • 66
  • Location:Israel

Posted 10 July 2010 - 08:48 AM

Physics simulations or really cruel torture of actual living being inside the new sims game? ^^

I really appreciate all the possibilities that computers many times of the current computing power can afford, as I said, for graphics and virtual reality, as well as pretty much any computer logic it will be amazing.

But simulations are risky as they might give rise to lifeforms in the PC. What to do then? Definitely not abandon technology...

#14 Elus

  • Topic Starter
  • Guest
  • 793 posts
  • 723
  • Location:Interdimensional Space

Posted 10 July 2010 - 08:55 AM

Physics simulations or really cruel torture of actual living being inside the new sims game? ^^

I really appreciate all the possibilities that computers many times of the current computing power can afford, as I said, for graphics and virtual reality, as well as pretty much any computer logic it will be amazing.

But simulations are risky as they might give rise to lifeforms in the PC. What to do then? Definitely not abandon technology...


Well, unless those lifeforms are self-aware (Sentient) I wouldn't worry too much about tinkering with those simulated worlds.

However, creating an artificial intelligence and then shutting it off (Killing it) has vast moral ramifications and is, in my opinion, immoral.




0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users