What is quantum computing? And what are its major areas of application?
Quantum computing is an emerging paradigm that is based on the quantum state of subatomic particles and leverages the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems that are assumed too complex for classical computers or even to supercomputers. Unlike the traditional computing paradigm, which operates based on 0 or 1 bits or binary bits, quantum computing operates in quantum bits or qubits. As opposed to the binary bits (0 or 1) of classical computing, qubits can represent a range of values in one qubit through a process called Superpositioning. This superpositioning gives quantum computers speed and parallelism. Because, each qubit can represent a quantitative solution to a given problem. Moreover, qubits can be linked with each other through a process referred to as Entanglement. And each entangled qubit adds two more dimensions to the system. When Entanglement is combined with Superpositioning process, quantum computers can handle a massive number of possible outcomes at the same time. These capabilities of quantum computers to outperform the traditional computers is known to as Quantum Supremacy.
Potential applications of quantum computing include the following:
- Artificial intelligence – Faster calculations to improve perception and comprehension
- Healthcare – DNA sequencing to optimize radiotherapy treatment and brain tumor detection
- Material Science – Enables to produce corrosion proof paints, lubricants, semiconductors and other strong materials
- Finance – Enables more complex simulations of stock market and trading trajectory optimizations
- Biochemistry – Enables to develop new and tailored drugs
- Machine Learning – improves it through faster structured prediction
- Computer Science – Supports faster multidimensional search functions or queries
- Environmental Science: Weather forecasting and climate change predictions or visualizations
- More
Even though quantum computing is not expected to render current computing paradigm obsolete overnight, there are some areas of computing that will be challenged by this emerging trend. The primary domain that will be under risk because of quantum computing are encryption techniques. According to some studies, quantum computing could jeopardize or at least significantly weaken the current cryptography systems. As a result, this emergence may affect businesses that rely on encryption algorithms to run their services.