The advancement in technology is becoming broader, better and faster with each passing day and with such advancements, human beings do not cease to amaze themselves on how they can manipulate their gadgets and the world around them.
The advancements in computers have been made, specifically the invention of quantum computing and it is not from the 23rd century but a reality. However, it can still be described as being in its infancy.
The word quantum here is used in the context of quantum mechanics, which is a branch of physics that is far from what we can realize.
What is Quantum computing?
Quantum computing is a branch of science that integrates computer science, physics, and mathematics to solve problems and operations that are faster than in classical computing.
Quantum computing involves both hardware and applications exploration. Quantum computers are designed to solve specific classes of problems more efficiently than classical computers due to factors like superposition and quantum interference.
Certain application areas where quantum computers can offer such a performance advantage include ML, optimization, and quantum simulations.
Possible future applications can be portfolio management in finance or modelling chemical structures and solving problems that are beyond the capabilities of the most potent supercomputers available today.
How do Quantum Computers Work?
A computer can take many forms and its form has evolved with time and is much smaller than its initial form, fitting into a hand. When it comes to quantum computers, we are only beginning to find out what this machine is capable of doing.
Similar to the first super computers that were developed in the 1960s, quantum computers also have a very large hardware size of about the size of a car.
However, a quantum processor is as small as a laptop processor, although it is still in its nascent stages. The hardware is so large mostly because of cooling systems that need to be used to maintain its very low temperature.
Applications of Quantum Technology
Apart from computation, other stunning uses of probing the quantum realm lie ahead.
- Secure Communication: This area is important to satellites, military, and cyber security among others as it offers the user unimaginably fast computing and safe, unbackable satellite communication.
- Research: It can be useful in solving some of the basic issues of physics such as gravity, black hole and so on.
- Disaster Management: Possible quantum applications computing in the field of natural disasters might include better prediction of tidal wave, droughts, earthquakes, and floods.
- Pharmaceutical: The interest the Indian market has shown towards the pharma and healthcare sector is immense.
Quantum computing is not something that we will be able to have in our homes in the near future to say, or even have a home that could accommodate the hardware since it has to be cooled to the temperature of space.
Quantum Computing Companies
In simple terms, there are many organizations that are investing their money to learn more about the potential of quantum technology because they understand that the world is going quantum.
Some of these companies include:
- IBM
- Microsoft
- Righetti Computing
- JPMorgan Chase
- ProteinQure
- Quantinuum
- Baidu
- Post-Quantum
- Alibaba Group
- Toshiba
- D-Wave Systems
It is crucial to understand that the concept was created as far back as the 1980s, and the application of the first quantum computing model occurred by approximately 1998.
Future of Quantum Computing
Quantum computing is one of the most innovative technologies that has developed over the last forty years, which has the potential of introducing new perspectives for the analysis and definition of computer problems.
Based on the principles of quantum mechanics, it can solve problems that would take days or even years for today’s most advanced supercomputers and classical computational methods.
The future of computing could help businesses in ways that today’s powerful computers can’t, but this technology is still in its early stages of global adoption.
Potential applications of quantum computing
Some of the areas where quantum computing could be relevant in the BFS industry include portfolio and risk management solutions. It can emulate the many elements of risk that exist in determining the value of derivative securities, portfolios, and investments, and thus evaluate and analyse them.
Quantum computing is still in its early stages, but in the insurance industry, the first movers may gain a significant competitive advantage through superior risk assessment.
Insurance companies might now identify and prevent fraud better due to the quantum computing potential of simulating risk conditions, choosing the portfolios, and rapidly sorting through the vast, unstructured data.
Logistics companies in the travel, transportation, and hospitality industries need high-end computers to process the growing amount of data and the data is highly unpredictable at that.
In applications like optimized route directing, fleet management, delivery scheduling, navigation, and supply chain optimization, quantum algorithms are exceptionally efficient.
The most sought-after application of quantum computing is in the discovery and development of new medicines. Quantum computing makes it possible for combinations and permutations to be computed as fast as never before.
This kind of power could perhaps be best utilized in the discovery of medicines and the researching of the effects of these drugs on the human body, which would be a great help to the pharmaceutical industry in terms of time and money.
In the automotive industry, quantum computing has been applied to enhance layouts of vehicles and add some new functions. Quantum computers can solve problems in various fields, for example, the behaviour of a car crash and acoustic insulation of hotels, etc.
Weather forecasting is not easy since it requires the analysis of various factors that are constantly varying, including humidity, wind speed, air temperature, pressure, and density.
Pattern recognition is one of the key factors that can help people understand the weather situation better, and quantum machine learning can improve this factor.
Due to their very high computational capability, quantum computers have the potential to bring in danger to the existing cybersecurity measures. This idea of quantum threats in cybersecurity is still relatively conceptual at the present time.
Quantum computing obstacles
Despite its clear potential as a technological marvel that will change the world, there are still some obstacles to overcome, which include:
- Error correction: these machines are quite sensitive to errors because they are working on algorithms in quantum system where there is a lot of noise and also decoherence. To counter this, developers have to put in place strong error-correction measures that would make it hard for it to happen.
- Scalability: qubits are delicate in their quantum state and for them to sustain and regulate, they need better quantum computers. The bigger the number of qubits in a quantum computer, the harder it is to build the proper environment for them to operate in; thus, the scaling process could not be less challenging.
- Hardware requirements: we already know that the hardware needed for quantum computing is hard to build and the main limiting factor for anything beyond corporate applications. It is not only difficult but also costly to recreate and maintain an environment with a near-zero level of pollution.
Conclusion
As much as one can deduce that quantum computing is a hard problem to solve, it has the ability of being done to the highest extent.
Gradually, researchers and scientists are learning more and more about how to control, stabilize, and utilize qubits, and it is an incredibly fascinating area because it is still in its infancy.
