A Quantum Computer
In 1965, Gordon E.Moore made a sort of prediction, a better way to put it would be that he made a forecast that the number of transistors we can place on an integrated circuit(or chip) doubles every two years and this came to be known as Moore’s Law. This ‘forecast’ came to be remarkably accurate from 1965 up until 2013 and this is true from the 1960s, the power of machines has grown exponentially allowing computers to get smaller but at the same time more powerful.
However, the Moore’s Law has slowed down from 2013 onwards as the number of transistors we can place on an integrated circuit double every three years, but this process is about to meet its limits(as in the physical limits) as computer parts are approaching the size of an atom.
This is a problem, and let me tell you why, but first, let us clear some basic topics.
A computer chip is made up of modules which in turn contain logic gates which in turn contain transistors and they basically represent data, process it, and control mechanisms.
A transistor is the simplest form of a data processor in computers. Information is made up of bits that can be set to 0 or 1. Combinations of bits are used to represent more complex information.
Transistors combine to create logic gates . A combination of logic gates creates meaningful modules that can do basic math like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and once you can do basic math you can do anything and everything.
A transistor is essentially a switch that can block electrons from moving in one direction (electricity is electrons moving from one place to another). As transistors get smaller and smaller to the size of only a few atoms, electrons can just transfer themselves to the other side of the passage via a process called Quantum Tunneling.
In the quantum realm, physics works in a different way from the predictable ways we are used to Therefore, as I said earlier we are approaching a physical barrier for our technological progress.
To solve this problem, scientists are trying to use quantum properties to their advantage by building quantum computers. In traditional computers, bits are the smallest unit of information and in quantum computer qubits are the smallest unit of information, which can be set to one of the two values - 0 or 1. A qubit can be any two-level quantum system such as spin and a magnetic field or a single photon. 0 or 1 are the possible states of a qubit just like bits but in the quantum world, qubits don’t have to be just one of those they can in any proportion of both states at once. This is called superposition.
As soon as you test its value, let’s say by sending it through a filter, it has to decide to be either vertically or horizontally polarized. So as long as it is unobserved, a qubit is in a superposition of probabilities 0 or 1, and we cannot predict which it will be. At the very instant you measure it into one basically ‘changes’ or collapses into one of the definite states.
This is the end of part one of this series, believe there is much more to quantum computing than this but let us take it one step at a time. Hope you enjoyed reading this and I will see you soon in the next one.
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