For the first time the components that underlie quantum computing's great potential - qubits - have been linked on chips like those in conventional computers. Two US research teams used superconducting circuits to make two of the quantum components linked by a quantum information cable or bus. The bits that work together on calculations in a normal computer can exist in two states - either 0 or 1. But qubits can inhabit both at once, allowing them to process many calculations simultaneously when they get together.
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Member since:2005-11-01
> I think there is no way to make materials supercondutive in room temperature.
Why do you think that? Certainly it is difficult to get electrons to form Cooper pairs when there is a lot of thermal energy, but I haven't seen anything that makes me believe room-temperature superconductivity is impossible. Who knows, we may even discover a similar effect that doesn't involve Bose-Einstein condensation...
> But at temperature of liquid nitrogen it would be just fine.
That's already doable; there are several high-temperature superconductors with a critical temperature well above N2's boiling point (~77 K).
> I make my bet on PCs with organic elements instead.
That takes a much bigger leap of faith than room-temperature superconductors, seeing how current organic and polymer-based electronics have carrier mobilities a few orders of magnitude lower than the cheapest semiconductors. If you're suggesting an even more fantastic paradigm shift in computing than "simple" organic-based electronics (ala OLEDs), then its a bigger leap still.
That being said, I have to wholly agree with atici. I haven't yet seen any significant indications that quantum computers, even if made practical, would be useful for much more than highly specialized cryptographic applications. Most tasks are still far better suited for the stored program architecture computer that we're so familiar with. Not that this eliminates their utility, but I don't see any merit in assuming that quantum computers can replace "traditional" computers. I always get the distinct feeling that the mystical term "quantum mechanics" gives quantum computers a much more impressive aura than they deserve.
High temperature superconductors are interesting in their own rite; modern high-speed digital IC speed is severely bound by interconnect delays, and having practical interconnects with exactly zero resistivity and the property of magnetic field exclusion would be amazing.
Member since:
2006-01-07
I dare to sound very oldfashioned, but I think there is no way to make materials supercondutive in room temperature. But at temperature of liquid nitrogen it would be just fine. I make my bet on PCs with organic elements instead.