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 Posté le: Ven Oct 04, 2013 12:29 am Sujet du message: qs1e4h5r |
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{D-Wave gains ‘superposition’ in quantum computing}
No two-bit computer maker: D-Wave founder Geordie Rose in front of a quantum computerBy Nelson BennettTue Oct 1, 2013 12:01am PSTWhen dignitaries joined D-Wave executives recently in cutting the ribbon on the company’s new 42,000-square-foot lab in Burnaby, there were only two possible physical states for the ribbon to be in: uncut or cut.But in the weird quantum world that D-Wave inhabits, there is a third potential state: simultaneously cut and uncut – metaphorically speaking.Subatomic particles – which have a property called spin – have been found to have “superposition” – a statistical probability of spinning in opposite directions at the same time.Quantum computing harnesses superposition, and D-Wave makes some pretty bold claims about its position in the race to build the world’s first functioning, commercially viable quantum computer.“We’re the only ones who have produced a quantum computer,” D-Wave CEO Vern Brownell – former chief technology officer for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) – told investors and dignitaries at a recent grand opening.The new 42,000-square foot lab on Beta Avenue will allow D-Wave to grow as it ramps up production of its latest model of quantum computers – the 512-qubit D-Wave 2.In addition to the two D-Wave computers already built for Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) and Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT), D-Wave has six functioning quantum computers in its new lab and several more in various stages of fabrication.The company has also attracted a number of blue-chip investors, including Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, In-Q-Tel (the CIA’s venture investment arm), Vancouver venture capitalist Haig Farris and Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ). Steve Jurvetson – a founding investor in Microsoft’s Hotmail – sits on the boards of both D-Wave and Tesla Motors Inc.“At DFJ, we like [investing] in passionate entrepreneurs with unique ideas that could change the world,” Jurvetson told BIV. “Ten years on, D-Wave is still utterly unique and the potential just as revolutionary.”To date, D-Wave has raised $130 million in venture capital, employs 75 scientists and engineers in Burnaby and has a lab in Palo Alto, California.At the heart of D-Wave’s big black boxes – six feet by six feet wide and 10 feet tall – is a tiny niobium chip the size of a fingernail. It’s here where the quantum magic happens.Because any noise or vibration can affect quantum states, these chips must be cooled to just above absolute zero – the point where molecules stop vibrating, magnetic forces are cancelled out and superconductivity occurs. It’s this extreme cooling and isolation that requires the D-Wave machine’s large housings, liquid helium cooling and expensive and exotic materials, like niobium and gold-plated copper components.Not only is D-Wave the only company in the world claiming to have built a commercial-grade quantum computer, it also holds 100 U.S. patents to some of the key technology behind it.According to Brownell, that means any competitor that wants to build the type of quantum computer that D-Wave has built “would have to step all over the IP [intellectual property] portfolio somehow.”“This is an extremely valuable patent portfolio,” he said.•Understanding quantum computing: it's a coin tossFlip a coin and it can only land face up or face down. But while it’s spinning in the air, it has the potential to be either.A subatomic particle’s superposition is a bit like that and quantum computing uses this “superposition.” A classical computer is limited to calculations using two bits: 0 or 1. Quantum computing uses qubits: 0 or 1 or 0/1. This vastly expands its ability to do complex, multiple calculations. Quantum computers won’t necessarily replace classical two-bit computers, however, but work in conjunction with them.A smartphone, for example, will probably never be powered by a quantum computer. But quantum computing might be used to design the artificial intelligence that would make the smartphone smarter.Machine learning and artificial intelligence is one area where quantum computers are believed to be superior,[url=http://www.official-tomsshoes.com]Toms Shoes Outlet[/url], which is why Google recently entered into a collaboration deal with D-Wave.Pattern recognition is another, and NASA hopes to use quantum computing to analyze vast amounts of data from space to detect patterns that suggest the existence of plants outside the solar system.“It turns out that the problem our system solves very well is the kind of problem that people like Google and Lockheed Martin and NASA have in spades,” said D-Wave founder Geordie Rose.Tags: Burnaby, Vancouver, California, D-Wave Systems Inc., computing and information technology, hardware, entrepreneur
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