Quantum computers have the ability to solve problems as well as create new ones.
Issues in which today's computers, no matter how powerful, quickly hit their limitations highlight the promise of quantum computers:
1. Cryptography: Almost every standard encryption technique is based on factoring the product of two very large prime numbers. To decode the message, one must first figure out which two primes a particular integer is made up of. This is simple for the number 39: the corresponding primes are 3 and 13. This job, however, can no longer be done by a traditional computer if the number of participants exceeds a specific threshold. In 1994, computer scientist Peter Shor created an algorithm that could factorize the products of extremely large prime numbers into their divisors in minutes using a quantum computer.
2. Completing difficult optimization tasks: Finding the best answer from a large number of options is a difficult challenge for mathematicians. The traveling salesman's difficulty is a common one. The goal is for him to determine the best sequence in which to visit various destinations so that the overall journey is as quick as feasible. With only 15 cities, there are approximately 43 billion potential route choices; with 18 cities, the number rises to over 177 trillion. Problems similar to these may be found in industrial logistics, semiconductor design, and traffic flow optimization. Even with a modest number of points, traditional computers struggle to find the best answers in an acceptable amount of time. Quantum computers are projected to be substantially more efficient at solving such optimization issues.
3. In the area of artificial intelligence, a substantial application might be found: In this discipline, deep neural networks are used to address combinatorial optimization problems that quantum computers can answer far better and quicker than any conventional computer. Quantum computers, in example, might recognize structures considerably quicker in very noisy data (which is very important in practical applications) and learn considerably quicker as a result. As a result, the new "mega buzzword" quantum machine learning is presently circulating, combining two buzzwords that already pique the interest of many people.
4. Searches in huge databases: A traditional computer is required to evaluate each data point separately while searching unsorted data collections. As a result, the search time scales linearly with the quantity of data points. The number of computing steps necessary for this activity is too enormous for a traditional computer to handle big volumes of data. Lov Grover, an Indian–American computer scientist, presented a quantum computer technique in 1996 that requires just the square root of the amount of data points in terms of processing steps. With a quantum computer using the Grove algorithm, instead of taking a thousand times as long to process a billion data entries as opposed to a million data points, the work would take just over 30 times as long.
5. Theoretical chemistry: Quantum computers have the potential to vastly enhance models of electron behavior in solids and molecules, particularly where entanglement is a prominent factor. For as we know today, the calculation and simulation of quantum systems involving interacting electrons is actually best done using computers that themselves have quantum mechanical properties, as Feynman had already observed in 1981. Theoretical physicists and chemists nowadays often deal with sophisticated optimization issues involving selecting the best conceivable, i.e., energetically most beneficial arrangement of electrons in an atom, molecule, or solid, from a large number of options. They've been attempting to solve such issues for decades, with mixed results.
8 Because quantum computers function as quantum systems themselves, rather than applying algorithms to qubits, they may directly map and simulate the quantum behavior of the electrons involved, while conventional computers must frequently pass though a crude abstraction of such systems.
9 Physicists refer to quantum simulators. “Right now, we have to calibrate regularly with experimental data,” says Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a pioneer in the modeling of molecules on quantum computers. If we have a quantum computer, some of it will go away.”
10 Quantum computing's applications are, of course, of enormous interest to government agencies. For example, with a quantum computer and its code-cracking capabilities, spy services may obtain access to sensitive material held by foreign countries (or their people).
According to Edward Snowden, the American National Security Agency (NSA) is quite interested in the technology.
Quantum computers might also usher in a new era of industrial espionage, since company data would no longer be completely secure.
Some scientists even anticipate that one day, quantum computers will be able to solve all of nature's issues that are impossible to solve on conventional computers due to their complicated quantum features.
Quantum computers, in particular, might aid in the following tasks:
- • Calculate the ground and excited states of complicated chemical and biological compounds, as well as the reaction kinetics. This is significant, for example, in the discovery of active medicinal compounds, the construction of even more useful catalysts, and the optimization of the Haber– Bosch fertilizer manufacturing process.
- • Decipher the electrical structures of crystals, which will progress solid state physics and materials science greatly. Nanotechnology would benefit greatly from new discoveries in these sectors. In molecular electronics, one example is the accurate computation of the attributes of prospective novel energy storage devices or components. Another crucial use would be the discovery of new high-temperature superconductors.
- • Calculate the behavior of black holes, the early universe's development, and the dynamics of high-energy elementary particle collisions. With the aid of a quantum computer, scientists may better anticipate and comprehend molecules and the specifics of chemical interactions than they can now, finding new forms of treatment on a weekly basis or developing far superior battery technologies within a month.
Quantum computers pose a danger to data security throughout the world.
Simultaneously, they may allow scientists to tackle previously intractable issues in a variety of scientific areas, resulting in significant technological advancements.
~ Jai Krishna Ponnappan
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