"Big Breakthrough": Taiwan Creates World's First Compact Quantum Computer
Date: 2024-10-18 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: TECHNOLOGY
Researchers from Taiwan announced the creation of the world's smallest single-photon quantum computer. As Interesting Engineering writes, at a press briefing, scientists from National Tsing Hua University demonstrated the use of "Shor's algorithm" for factorization on their quantum computer the size of a small box.
It is noted that the researchers managed to overcome significant obstacles in the development of quantum computing - high energy requirements and low ambient temperatures.
Unlike conventional computers, which use printed circuit boards to perform calculations, quantum computing uses photons to transmit data and quantum physics to process it. A bit, which can only represent 0 or 1, is the smallest unit of information in a conventional computer. On the other hand, quantum superposition allows a quantum bit, or qubit, to exist as both a 0 and a 1 at the same time.
Because of this characteristic, quantum computers can perform complex operations 100 million times faster than traditional computers, including factoring and searching large data sets.
The new invention, which is detailed in a publication in the journal Physical Review Applied, shows how a photonic quantum computer can be compact in size and operate without the need for massive cooling systems, unlike the quantum computers currently in use in leading research labs.
The discovery, according to the researchers, is a major breakthrough in quantum technology. Potential applications of photonic quantum computing in a number of future fields, such as data security, artificial intelligence, medical research, and logistics optimization, were also mentioned.
