Quantum Computing Prime Modality In Neurosurgerys Essay. (70 Characters)

Discuss about the Quantum Computing Prime Modality In Neurosurgerys.

Historical Review of Quantum Computing

Quantum computing involves application of quantum-mechanical principles to investigate the computing abilities of computers and other properties. This field started way back in the early 1980s with suggestion of analogue quantum computers. Quantum mechanics gives quantum computation the powers as well as the limitations associated with it (Rieffel & Polak, 2011). No one has been able to fully understand the extent of either its power or limitations thus my paper will focus on the history and the review of quantum computing. This paper will also discuss on the advancements that have been made in quantum computing over time.

Quantum computation field started back in the 1980s and became digital in 1985. In 1997, 2-qubit quantum computer was built which was very small. Four years later in 2001, a 5-qubit quantum computer was built which was able to successfully factor number 15. Today the largest quantum computers have few dozen qubits. Quantum computing is still in its early stages thus classical computing had to solve many technical problems.

In 2006, a new operational standard through controlling a 12-qubit quantum system with reduced decoherence was presented by scientists from the institute of Quantum Computing and Perimeter (Lee, Liu & Apuzzo, 2012). Also, in the same year researchers from the University of Akranas were able to create molecules of quantum dot pairs. These have great impacts on quantum computers more so when more complex molecules are created.

2007 is the year when Deutsch’s algorithm was first used in a cluster state quantum computer. Later in the same year, a company named D-wave contended to have come up with the first working 28-qubit quantum computer (Aspuru-Guzik, Dutoi, Love & Head-Gordon, 2005). The 28-qubit quantum computer was later proved as it was demonstrated on November 12 that year.

The first quantum computer to be available for sale was introduced in 2011. This first available in the market quantum computer was developed by D-wave systems just after they came up with quantum annealing (Pandey & Ramesh, 2015). Quantum annealing involves setting up of coupled qubits to establish their lowest energy state. 2011 is a remarkable year in the quantum computer history as the year in which the quantum computer was first advanced with Von Neumann architecture.

The quantum computer introduced in 2011 had a central processing unit (CPU) as well as a memory that stores and processes data. A report published by D-wave compared the speed of the most expensive computer and that of the quantum computer. The quantum computer was able to run an optimization algorithm 3,600 faster compared to the high-end PC (Zargoskin, 2017). Later in the same year more advancement were made to avoid qubit dicoherence at room temperature.

Quantum Computing Review

In 2015 D-Wave disclosed their new 1,152- qubit D-Wave 2x quantum computer. They later advanced to 2000Q which consisted of 2,048-qubits (Singh & Singh, 2016). They worked towards doubling the number of qubits in every two years. Increase in qubits results to increased number of intricate problems that can be solved.

Quantum computing is an area that is becoming prominent over time in the information sciences. This area is based on the concept of applying quantum mechanics to make computers with a high speed and improved security. Quantum computers will have certain characteristics such as superposition which will enable them to be in any classical state (Ladd, Jelezko, Laflamme, Nakamura, Monroe, & Brien, 2010).. Entanglement will also be an added advantage as it will make it possible for different parts of the computer to connect despite being far apart.

However, quantum computing experiences challenges that hinder its effectiveness and efficiency. One of the major challenges is the high fragility of the qubits that results from their interactions with the environment (Shiddiq, Komijani, Duan, Gaita-Ariño, Coronado, & Hill, 2016). This challenge leads to destruction of their quantumness. This is known as decoherence.

There are many competitors for qubit, these include spin qubits, ultra cold atoms and quantum optical cavities. In the case of spin qubits magnetic dipolar interaction is the strongest source of decoherence (Shiddiq, Komijani, Duan, Gaita-Ariño, Coronado, & Hill, 2016). This is minimised by diluting the spins in a diamagnetic matrix.

However, there exist a contradiction between minimising decoherence by dilution and allowing quantum operations through the interaction between spin qubits (Sproule, 2016). This contradiction can be solved using an approach whereby the structure of magnetic molecules is chemically aimed at giving a desired physical behaviour.

Quantum computers are aimed at solving complex mathematical problems within limited time which even the current superfast computers cannot solve (Kurzweil, 2010). Centuries to come quantum technology and quantum computers will be major terms in the global information technology. They will enhance the global technology through their effectiveness by their ability to solve complex problems and even offer security as a result of networks that cannot be hacked.

The quantum age will be marked by the availability of computers which will have computability based on the quantum mechanics. Quantum computers will be completely different from today’s computers as they will have neither a keyboard nor a monitor. Many countries are working towards producing the first fully functional quantum computer. United States is one of the countries whose famous IT companies like Microsoft and Intel is putting a lot of efforts to develop a fully functional computer.

Quantum Computing Limitations

Russia has also invested a lot in quantum computing headed by the Russian Quantum Center. This is evident as the Russian Quantum Center on 2017 unveiled of having developed a quantum computer that can solve general computations. This shows that the journey towards quantum computing is on.

As opposed to the current computers, quantum computers will be able to carry out multiple computations at once. Computing power of a quantum computer can be easily increased by increasing the number of qubits (Ladd, Jelezko, Laflamme, Nakamura, Monroe, & Brien, 2010). The current computers use transistors for computing power this is different in the case of quantum computers which will use of atoms as their physical system.

As much as quantum computing will be helpful it will still have some negative impacts. These negative impacts include inequality. Everyone’s’ assumptions is that quantum computing will spread widely in the next few decades but there is a possibility it will only be accessible in some limited parts. This will result to unbalanced distribution of wealth between a limited number of large companies and the rest of the society.

Quantum computing is also likely to be more expensive. This will lead to domination of the market by some few big companies. If the quantum computers will be found to increase the efficiency of production in companies, there will be a risk of domination as only the big companies will be able to access quantum computing due to the cost. It will be exceedingly expensive to even build a small size quantum computer.

Conclusion

Quantum computing is an emerging and growing field that will involve combination of mathematics, computer science and physics. This field will be based on application of quantum mechanics to enhance computation power and efficiency (Riefel & Polak, 2011). Realization of the quantum computers is even closer now considering the developments that have been made over the past years. The realisation accomplishment of quantum computing will have several significant effects on the society.

The best strategy that will ensure quantum computing has more positive impacts compared to the negative impacts is through openness and accessibility. It is evident that many countries are heavily investing in developing a fully functional quantum computer. Russia being one of those countries has already developed a quantum computer that can solve general computations.

Sensitivity due to interaction with the environment is one of the challenges facing the actualization of quantum computing. This occurrence has been identified as decoherence. From the study it is clear that centuries to come quantum computing will be actualised to improve efficiency in computation.

References

Aspuru-Guzik, A., Dutoi, A. D., Love, P. J., & Head-Gordon, M. (2005). Simulated quantum  computation of molecular energies. Science, 309(5741), 1704-1707.

Kurzweil, R. (2010). The singularity is near. Gerald Duckworth & Co.

Ladd, T. D., Jelezko, F., Laflamme, R., Nakamura, Y., Monroe, C., & O’Brien, J. L. (2010). Quantum computers. Nature, 464(7285), 45.

Lee, B., Liu, C. Y., & Apuzzo, M. L. (2012). Quantum computing: a prime modality in  neurosurgery's future. World neurosurgery, 78(5), 404-408.

Pandey, A., & Ramesh, V. (2015). Quantum computing for big data analysis. Indian Journal of Science, 14(43), 98-104.

Rieffel, E. G., & Polak, W. H. (2011). Quantum computing: A gentle introduction. MIT Press.

Singh, J., & Singh, M. (2016, November). Evolution in Quantum Computing. In System  Modeling & Advancement in Research Trends (SMART), International Conference (pp.  267-270). IEEE.

Sproules, S. (2016). Molecules as electron spin qubits. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance, 25,  61.

Shiddiq, M., Komijani, D., Duan, Y., Gaita-Ariño, A., Coronado, E., & Hill, S. (2016). Enhancing coherence in molecular spin qubits via atomic clock transitions. Nature, 531(7594), 348.

Zagoskin, A. M. (2017). Analogue simulation with the use of artificial quantum coherent structures. Reviews in Physics.