Quantum information is the physics of knowledge. To be more
specific, the field of quantum information studies the implications that quantum
mechanics has on the fundamental nature of information.
By studying this relationship between quantum theory and information,
it is possible to design a new type of
computer—a quantum computer.
A largescale,
working quantum computer—the kind of quantum computer some
scientists think we might see in 50 years—would be capable
of performing some tasks impossibly quickly.
To date, the two most promising uses for such a device are
quantum search and
quantum factoring.
To understand the power of a quantum
search, consider classically searching a phonebook for the name
which matches an unknown phone number.
If the phonebook has 10,000
entries, on average you’ll need to look through about half of
them—5,000 entries—before you get lucky. A quantum
search algorithm only needs to guess 100 times. With 5,000 guesses
a quantum computer could search through a phonebook with 25 million names.
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