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Quantum Processor

Big.Wayne

Big.Wayne

Big.Wayne

Soldato
Joined
11 Sep 2003
Posts
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Location
London
"Today’s CPUs have already reached higher heat density than a nuclear reactor, and maintaining Moore’s Law will be a considerable challenge once five nanometer gates are achieved" - Alan Dang

quantumprocessors.jpg


So apparently at some point in the not too distant future . . . processor technology is going to hit a brick wall using it's current silicon based fabrication . . . some us us have 65nm chips, others are using 45nm and the lucky few are playing with their 32nm weenies! ;) . . . however this shrinking process cannot go on forever can it? . . . I'm reading that once 5nm is reached there will be issues of electron tunneling, Wormholes and other things I have no idea about! :o

So what we gonna do in The Future? . . . is it going to be a parallelism fest with hundreds of regular processors working side by side ("128 core is sooo last year don't yer know!") executing multiple computational threads . . . or is this Quantum Computing thing gonna take off?

I don't really know very much about this subject and I'm not even sure what "Quantum" actually means? . . . what does Wikipedia say . . .

"In physics, a quantum (plural: quanta) is the minimum unit of any physical entity involved in an interaction. An example of an entity that is quantized is the energy transfer of elementary particles of matter (called fermions) and of photons and other bosons. The word comes from the Latin "quantus", for "how much." Behind this, one finds the fundamental notion that a physical property may be "quantized", referred to as "quantization". This means that the magnitude can take on only certain discrete numerical values, rather than any value, at least within a range. There is a related term of quantum number."

I'm reading Sciencedaily: Quantum Computing News but I'm a Quantum nOOb so would appreciate any feedback from someone who is into this stuff! . . . looks interesting! :cool:

davidhanneke.jpg
jameschinwen.jpg

Left:Quantum-Clocker David Hanneke tweaks his pair of beryllium ions ;)
Right: James Chin-wen adjusts his Quantum Logic Clock . . . now the Worlds most precise clock based on a single aluminum atom! :eek:
 
when i read the title i was expecting some huge processor with about 50 cores and hyperthreading.

those guys in the pics look like they really know what there doing...all this stuff is far complicated to read.
 
Jokester said:
Current lithography techniques hits the wall at about 20nm.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression this was the limit of regular 'pure' silicon doping technology; and was why Intel moved onto Halfnium infused silicon matrix strucutres? But i could be wrong!

As far as i understand it, true 'Quantum' processors still only operate at very low clock speeds and are still in the 8bit phase of development. In their current state they'll have little use in anything other than theoretical physics. Although iirc if the spin of a single atom can be recorded and changed at will, then we could move to a sub atomic system.

A different tech, possibly based on carbon structures (nanotubes or graphene - you can wiki this but the article gets very technical towards the end!), is the most likely next jump in the future.
 
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Would be nice to see mass production carbon nanotube chips...but these are still way in early research stages....but should be able to make around 15nm transistors

http://www.newscientist.com/article...sistors-shrink-smaller-than-silicon-size.html


The problem with quantum computers is that you need a great deal of power to keep the "computer" a few degrees above absolute zero so that it remains superconducting.
 
gurusan said:
The problem with quantum computers is that you need a great deal of power to keep the "computer" a few degrees above absolute zero so that it remains superconducting.
Click to expand...

That would be quite a significant problem.

I remember reading a few articles years and years ago about using light instead of electrons in processors, iirc they had logic gates working after a fashion but nothing much more. This would probably qualify as a "quantum" computer.
 
Apparently quantum computing has developed a new system to replace binary based on the direction of spin of an atom to give 4 different outcomes as opposed to the standard yes/no of binary. So if indeed they make it work properly, how do you program that?
 
Lets just understand that this answer is already known


We are drip fed technology...

So in essence they have the answer....(if not now) very soon,but this will be held back.


New tech appears......always....Never a slump....Consumers like us are just guinea pigs in the technological wheel,

They already know....we won't for a time to come
 
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Devrij said:
Apparently quantum computing has developed a new system to replace binary based on the direction of spin of an atom to give 4 different outcomes as opposed to the standard yes/no of binary. So if indeed they make it work properly, how do you program that?
Click to expand...

Don't know but I'm (edit: sure (not saw)) I read/watched somewhere (like a BBC science thing) that it had 3 states but not 4?

Interesting thread none the less.
 
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Devrij said:
Apparently quantum computing has developed a new system to replace binary based on the direction of spin of an atom to give 4 different outcomes as opposed to the standard yes/no of binary. So if indeed they make it work properly, how do you program that?
Click to expand...

I'd imagine we'd move onto a base 4 counting system (Quaternary?) instead of using Binary. Would probably mean we'd need all new compilers for software to work with the hardware.
 
Devrij said:
Apparently quantum computing has developed a new system to replace binary based on the direction of spin of an atom to give 4 different outcomes as opposed to the standard yes/no of binary
Click to expand...
Hey this is some weird **** :D

"While each qubit is actually made up of a billion aluminum atoms, it acts like a single atom that can occupy two different energy states. These states are akin to the "1" and "0" or "on" and "off" states of regular bits employed by conventional computers. Because of the counterintuitive laws of quantum mechanics, however, scientists can effectively place qubits in a "superposition" of multiple states at the same time, allowing for greater information storage and processing power.

For example, imagine having four phone numbers, including one for a friend, but not knowing which number belonged to that friend. You would typically have to try two to three numbers before you dialed the right one. A quantum processor, on the other hand, can find the right number in only one try.

"Instead of having to place a phone call to one number, then another number, you use quantum mechanics to speed up the process," Schoelkopf said. "It's like being able to place one phone call that simultaneously tests all four numbers, but only goes through to the right one." - ScienceDaily

I think somebody can come up with a better *spin* for what is possible with a quantum processor, I'm not sure I understand the example above! :p
 
I'm afraid any useful description would be intensely mathematical Wayne. Quantum mechanics doesn't lend itself well to English, and sadly I don't cope well with the maths it requires. Wheres Death_Looms when you need him?
 
Yeah I could be wrong about how many states etc., I read it in New Scientist ages ago and thought it was nifty. I remember talking to a research scientist years ago who was working on a system using light instead of electricity, using crystals of some sort. Who needs to be hampered by the speed of light though when you've got instant quantum shizzle!
 
I wouldn't worry much about it, by the time CPUs hit 20nm they will be 24core 6GHZs with Hyperthreading and by the time the developers catch up to make even 1/4th use of this I'll be too old to care about PCs anymore.
 
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