Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Milestones
  • Published:

Milestone 17

From paradox to technology

Quantum information

Nature Materials volume 9, pages S16–S17 (2010)Cite this article

These ideas are based on the quantum principle of superposition, which allows particles to exist in multiple states at once. For example, when a single photon falls onto a half-silvered mirror, there are two possible outcomes: reflection and transmission. Instead of going one particular way, however, the photon is transmitted and reflected at the same time. Only when detectors are put into place will one of the two paths be attributed to the photon. Without detection, the photon effectively goes both ways.

A quantum computer operates in such superposition modes. The basic unit is a quantum bit (or qubit) that, until it is read out, can take on values of both 0 and 1 simultaneously. A qubit can, for example, be an atom in its ground or excited state, or an electron with spin up or down. If we can couple together 10 qubits, they can be collectively in all 1,024 classical states of 10 bits. The power of quantum computing relies on having all superposition states at disposition in parallel during computation.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

  1. Feynman, R. Simulating physics with computers. Int. J. Theoret. Phys. 21, 467–488 (1982)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Wiesner, S. Conjugate coding. ACM Sigact News 15(1), 78–88 (1983)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bennett, C. H. & Brassard, G. in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Comp. Syst. Signal Process. 175–179 (IEEE, 1984)

  4. Deutsch, D. Quantum theory, the Church–Turing principle and the universal quantum computer. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 400, 97–117 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ekert, A. K. Quantum cryptography based on Bell's theorem. Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 661–663 (1991)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bennett C. H. et al. Teleporting an unknown quantum state via dual classical and Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen channels. Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 1895–1899 (1993)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Shor, P. W. in Proc. 35th Annu. Symp. Found. Comp. Sci. (ed. Goldwasser, S.) 124–134 (IEEE Computer Society Press, 1994)

FURTHER READING

  1. Gisin, N. & Thew, R. Quantum communication. Nature Photon. 1, 165–171 (2007)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ladd, T. D. et al. Quantum computers. Nature 454, 45–53 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Senior Editor, Nature,

    Liesbeth Venema

Authors
  1. Liesbeth Venema
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Venema, L. From paradox to technology. Nature Mater 9 (Suppl 1), S16–S17 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2654

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2654

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing