Getting closer to the quantum computer

A University of Utah researcher has joined forces with researchers in Germany to make progress toward the eventual development of faster computers based on quantum physics. Their breakthrough involves enabling data to be read on spinning atomic nuclei — they demonstrated the possibility of using electrical methods to detect such data. Quantum computers have not yet been built, according to the University of Utah, and “If you want to compare the development of quantum computers with classical computers, we probably would be just before the discovery of the abacus,” sayw Christophe Boehme, assistant professor of physics at the school. But when quantum computers are built, they promise to be almost unbelievably fast. Whereas a typical PC today calculates 64 bits of data at a time, a quantum computer could be billions of times faster, according to the school.