One of the most important technological races in the world is taking place in the field of quantum computing, and the Serbian atomic physicist professor Vladan Vuletić with a team at MIT in Boston is developing a computer with the largest number of Qbits.
The work of quantum computers is based on the laws of quantum physics and the phenomenon known as superposition. There are currently four prominent systems being worked on.
“The first uses ions, these are charged atoms”, explains professor Vuletić as reported by RTS. “They can easily be captured and manipulated using lasers. The second system uses superconductors and the third neutral atoms, which is the one we are developing here at Harvard and MIT. And then another approach is to rely only on light, photons.”
In our country, global trends in the field of quantum informatics are followed, but only at a theoretical level.
“Theoretically, we are already keeping pace with world trends”, says professor Vladimir Arsoski from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade. “We have been following quantum informatics at a theoretical level at the Faculty of Physics, in our institutes and at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering for many years. As far as hardware production is concerned, I think we are far away”.
At the moment, scientists are looking for a way to determine which of the four known systems can control the most quantum bits and how to protect quantum information from being lost.
“I think that in the next year or two, we will see the first experiment that shows that we can permanently protect quantum information, although there is always decoherence that is constantly trying to destroy that information”, says Vuletić.
With parallel information processing, the widespread use of quantum computers would calculate in a couple of hours what an ordinary computer needs a billion years to do.
Photo: RTS