Quantum computer

A Quantum Computer is a computer that harnesses the power of atoms and molecules to perform memory and processing tasks. It has the potential to perform certain calculations billions of times faster than any silicon-based computer In both the search for ever smaller and faster computational devices, and the search for a computational understanding of biological systems such as the brain, one is naturally led to consider the possibility of computational devices the size of cells, molecules, atoms, or on even smaller scales.

Indeed, it has been pointed out that if trends over the last forty years continue, we may reach atomic-scale computation by the year 2010. This move down in scale takes us from systems that can be understood (to a good enough approximation) using classical mechanics alone, to those which require a quantum mechanical understanding. Thus, it should not be surprising to find that the idea of quantum computation is not new. However, most if not all work so far has been understandably speculative.