Panoramic View of Quantum Computing

Binary computers helped us to get connected with the realm of new opportunities and possibilities. It took a lot of efforts and time to build a computer which can execute multiple tasks and handle massive calculation at a time. Despite innovations and developments, computing systems currently available are not very swift in handling complex problems and calculations. To address this problem from last few years’ various industry players like D-Wave Inc., IBM, StationQ-Microsoft, and Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab -Google has shown their interest in developing computing system which can use Quantum Concepts to execute complex tasks and solve any problem.

A quantum computer is a computational device that uses quantum mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on given data. In classical computers information is stored in bits; whereas quantum computer stores information in Quantum Bits popularly known as Qubits. Superposition and entanglement are the basic properties of quantum computers which differentiate them from classical computers. Superposition property of quantum computers enables its qubits to be on 1 and 0 states at a time. And this uniqueness of Qbits increases the speed of this computing system to approach given problem. In a quantum computer, just two qubits can also represent the exact same four states (00, 01, 10, or 11). Superposition property of qubits helps to be in all four states at the same time. This is equivalent of four regular computers running side-by-side. On the other side, entanglement property of quantum computers helps to establish the correlation between qubits where they store common information.

In 2010, D-Wave Systems Inc. shipped first Quantum Computer which was of 512 qubits to Lockheed Martin. This transaction created enough buzz for quantum computers to get highlighted. In the span of next 7 years, D-Wave shipped their Quantum Computers to companies/consortium like The Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab (QuAIL), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Temporal Defence Systems and USC Information Sciences Institute. In addition, automakers like Volkswagen has also shown interest in using Quantum Computers in its traffic flow optimization project. At present Quantum Computers are welcomed by industries such as defense and banking & finance. As of 2016, 80% of Quantum Computing market is dominated by defense and banking & finance sector. However, booming technological trends such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will surely be tapped by Quantum Computing Industry players to use them as a gateway to enter in mainstream computing market space.

In addition to this quantum computers also holds huge scope for pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. Key applications of quantum computers are present in Simulation, Optimization and Sampling areas. In simple terms applications of quantum computers are in Object/System Simulation, Financial Trade Sampling, Machine Learning and Optimizing various processes like cancer radiotherapy, seismic survey optimization and water movement within pressurized pipe network. In coming years’ quantum computing can be used in applications such as molecular chemistry, weather forecasting, astronomy, reserve, spot trading optimization etc.

Existing ecosystem of quantum computing can be divided into two parts – hardware providers and software/solution providers. In the former; D-Wave, Atos, and IBM are the only key players. In this set of companies, only D-Wave has earned revenue so far by successfully completing few business transactions. However, companies such as Rigetti, QCWare Corp., QxBranch, and 1Qbit are holding the fort of software/solution part of Quantum Computers’ ecosystem.

Today, quantum computing is as complex as “Enigma Messages” for many and only handful of specialists knows how to use a quantum computer. Many computing professionals still believe that it will be always economical to build a classical computer that has more bits than the number of qubits in the quantum computer. Surely this technology will not have a smooth ride in the market because of the cost and complexity which comes as the major obstacle, Quantum Computers must overtake.