You may have heard of quantum computing but the term sounds like science fiction to you. Don’t worry, because in this article we are going to carry out an exhaustive review so that you can learn what quantum computing is, when it originated and what this technology can be used for. let’s start!
Origin of quantum computing
We have to go back to the early 1980s to understand the beginning of quantum computing. It is a technological innovation whose main objective is to be able to solve problems that conventional computers cannot address.
There were several researchers – among others, Paul Benioff, Richard Feynman and Yuri Manin – who focused on using the behavior of quantum objects such as atoms, electrons, photons and subatomic particles, to solve problems much more quickly and with lower energy consumption.
Since then, quantum computing has evolved a lot, but its fundamental principle remains unchanged: being able to solve big problems quickly and more efficiently.
To do this, it is necessary to have a computer that is more powerful than conventional computers or even supercomputers: quantum computers.
What is a quantum computer and how does it work?
It is a computer capable of using quantum to solve complex problems. Although their external appearance may be similar to that of a basic computer or a supercomputer, these computers use encryption protocols or very complicated optimization problems to solve the processes they face. Thanks to their enormous management capacity, these computers work at a speed much higher than normal computers.
The main characteristic of these devices is that they use the quantum properties of the most elementary particles. In this sense, they convert them into basic units of information (qubits or quantum bits) instead of the traditional ones and zeros, the way standard computing works.
However, these units of quantum information can be represented – instead of zeros and ones – by a complex number called amplitude, which allows us to obtain both a zero and a one depending on the way it is read. This characteristic makes them much more powerful and allows more complex problems to be solved thanks to the millions of qubits with which a quantum computer usually works.
This is possible because qubits can exist in more states than standard bits, which, as we have seen, only handle ones and zeros, allowing quantum computers to handle much larger amounts of information and work faster and much faster. efficient.
For example, to store 128 bytes of RAM, 1024 bits are required in traditional computers. However, this same amount is achieved with “only” 10 qubits, which makes it possible to manage larger amounts of information and obtain answers to more complex processes.
Although at the moment quantum computers are not going to replace traditional computing, they do offer more powerful features that allow them to successfully face some computing challenges that traditional computers cannot address. They are, therefore, two technologies that, for the moment, will coexist over time and will mutually benefit from each other.
