Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors on a microprocessor will double every 24 months. Since Gordon E. Moore made this observation in 1965, it has proven itself to be fairly accurate. I should note that many people state the doubling time is 18 months, but Moore is being misquoted and has always said that it would take 2 years.

The problem with Moore’s Law is that by the decade of the 2020′s, the circuits on a microprocessor will be measured on an atomic scale. You would either have to put the circuits on a larger wafer, or use another technology. That other technology could be quantum computing.

Computers today operate like switches, binary switches to be more precise. The fundamental storage unit is a bit which uses the metaphor of being on or off. Engineers represent this as a 1 or a 0, but its actually a high or low voltage that is being stored in the memory circuit.

Unlike a binary computer, a quantum computer will be able to perform multiple calculations concurrently where a binary computer can only do one at a time. This shouldn’t be confused with computers with dual processors or dual core processors. The CPU on a binary computer can only do one thing at a time. A machine with two CPU’s will each be able to only process one calculation at a time.

Quantum technologies use quantum physics to govern their behaviour, as opposed to the classical laws of physics that binary computers use. The basic storage element is not a bit, but a qubit (quantum bit). While a binary bit can only be in one of two states (on or off) at any moment, a qubit can exist in mutliple states. It can be 1 or 0, a superposition that exists simultaneously as a 1 or 0, or be somewhere between a 1 or 0. However, its not accurate to describe quantum computers using a 1 or 0, its actually two spin states that are either down or up. A qubit represents the atoms that are working together as memory and the processor.

Quantum technology will revolutionize computers. A quantum computer will be able to make calculations billions of times faster than that a silicon computer. This will be major leap forward in the computer industry. Unfortunately, this technology is still years away from appearing on your desktop.

D-Wave Systems will be demonstrating their 16-qubit quantum computer this month at the Computer History Museum and the Telus World of Science. Their machine can perform 64,000 calculutions simultaneously. They will be showing an adiabatic quantum computer (AQC) which was designed for solving just one type of problem. We still have to wait for the consumer quantum computer for our gaming needs.

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