Quantum Computing: The Future to Come That Changes Everything
Quantum computing is the next revolution promised to take over the world a leap beyond conventional computing systems. While a classical computer computes information in binary forms, 1s and 0s, quantum computers leverage weird principles of quantum mechanics to do calculations in ways hitherto thought impossible. This developing domain will crack complicated problems which even classical computers-let alone the most powerful-could not perform efficiently.
While the qubit is actually the quantum version of the classical bit, the latter normally takes one out of two values, 0 or 1, whereas a qubit assumes several states owing to one phenomenon called superposition. It is such features that enable quantum computers to execute many computations in one run and essentially increase their computational power. Another quantum property is entanglement, whereby qubits can interrelate in such a way that the state of one qubit can, in effect, instantaneously influence another, even when separated by large distances. In a quantum computer, this property is exploited such that it solves problems in parallel. Hence, it speeds up the process even further.
Quantum computing is no longer an abstract thing. Of late, it has seen phenomenal development. In 2019, **Google AI Quantum**, the quantum computing group at Google, announced the first "quantum supremacy," completing a computation in 200 seconds that the most powerful supercomputer in the world would take over 10,000 years to do. The result was a watershed: it seemed, for the first time, to prove something which many people had believed for decades-that quantum computers really could do some computations which were beyond the powers of classical ones. For all its success, quantum supremacy only pertains to very special problems, and the technology is still in its infancy.
One major problem still besetting quantum computing today is called **quantum decoherence**, which is the interference of quantum status of qubits through external causes such as heat and electromagnetic radiation. This in turn makes it very difficult to maintain this sensitive state long enough that something useful is done. Presently, these stability and error correction problems in quantum systems have been under vigorous investigation by active researchers. Probably, the most promising ways pursued involve the use of **topological qubits**, which are a bit more stable, with **quantum error correction algorithms** for reducing decoherence effects.
The enormous applications of quantum computing bear great potential for affecting many industries. While for cryptography, quantum computers will break classical encryption methods reliant on the hardness of factoring large numbers-a task they shall do in fractions of time with today's computation. This therefore calls for an immediate need in the development of quantum-safe methods of encryption as one looks into the future when quantum attacks against data integrity start being realized. This could alter how drug discovery is done: by simulation of the ways in which molecules will act at the quantum level, in essence, greatly speeding up the process for development of new treatments in medicine. Quantum algorithms enable logistics supply chain optimization at previously unimaginable levels with reduced costs and heightened efficiency. Still more important, quantum computers can find a solution to hitherto unimaginable problems in financial areas, material sciences, or artificial intelligence.
And yet, with that tremendous progress, we are still in our infancy in quantum computing. Companies such as IBM, Intel, and Microsoft have heavily invested-joining academia and government agencies-in research into making quantum computers more practical, scalable, and reliable. Decades are foreseen ahead of when there will be any real fault-tolerant quantum computer-a computer which should actually be able to solve real problems at scale.
While quantum computing is still in its development phase, the potential it holds as a transformer is one that can hardly be dismissed. It will be over the coming decades, therefore, when breakthroughs apt to extend technology's limit for what it could do are very much likely to open up new frontiers not only in science and industry but also in our daily lives. As one delves deeper divinely into the quantum frontier, it goes without saying that the world teeters on a technological revolution that could fundamentally change the way we solve problems and go about the world.
