1. Subscribersonhouse
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    14 Jan '20 19:36
    https://phys.org/news/2020-01-reliable-extremely-fast-quantum-germanium.html

    Now they need to do a few thousand such qubits working together to make a quantum computer stronger than the best supercomputers of today or tomorrow.

    Sounds like it should be possible to integrate such devices though.
    Time will tell if they are right.
  2. Standard memberbunnyknight
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    14 Jan '20 21:45
    @sonhouse
    What could you do if you had 20 million qubits working together?
  3. Standard memberDeepThought
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    15 Jan '20 01:56
    @sonhouse said
    https://phys.org/news/2020-01-reliable-extremely-fast-quantum-germanium.html

    Now they need to do a few thousand such qubits working together to make a quantum computer stronger than the best supercomputers of today or tomorrow.

    Sounds like it should be possible to integrate such devices though.
    Time will tell if they are right.
    Note of caution here, the article is a marketing release by QuTech, the company that did this. So we need an expert in this stuff to tell us how important the advance actually is. The real test is whether one of these things can factor a reasonably large composite number faster than a conventional computer. Until someone can demonstrate that I'm going to maintain skepticism. The peer reviewed article they're advertising is available here:

    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1919-3
  4. Subscribersonhouse
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    15 Jan '20 09:20
    @bunnyknight
    It would be extremely powerful for sure. I think the pundits want a few thousand working together. Supposedly that would make a quantum computer much stronger and faster than any conventional parallel supercomputer and able to solve problems a super comp could never do.
  5. Subscribersonhouse
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    15 Jan '20 09:22
    @DeepThought
    I missed that one. They also didn't mention what temperature they would run at. My guess is a couple of degrees K or so. Which leads to it's own set of problems.
    My cryopumps run at 10 degrees K and just makes atmospheric molecules stick to a high surface area carbon affair.
  6. Standard memberbunnyknight
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    15 Jan '20 16:191 edit
    @sonhouse
    Can a quantum computer only perform certain very specific tasks, or could it be made to, let's say, render a video game?
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    15 Jan '20 17:366 edits
    @bunnyknight said
    @sonhouse
    Can a quantum computer only perform certain very specific tasks,
    I am afraid so.
    Most types of tasks done by a conventional computer wouldn't be done faster by a quantum computer.
    For example, if you just want to add or divide etc two numbers then even your ordinary pocket calculator would do the job better than a quantum computer.

    In addition, and only with just one exception I know of, there has been much hype not corresponding to reality of most of the kinds of tasks that a quantum computer CAN do faster because all but one of those types of tasks would have only trivial (if any) benefit to humanity.
    The only exception I know of to that is the task of simulating quantum systems; there IS a big potential benefit from quantum computers doing that partly because that should indirectly tend to lead to huge breakthroughs in material science esp for designing the materials solar cells of solar panels and such things as high temperature superconductors and designing materials for spintronic microchips that would be over a thousand times more energy efficient than our current microchips. Also, quantum computers simulating quantum systems should give us much better understanding of how enzymes work and that should lead to medical breakthroughs as well designing better artificial enzymes for various important industrial processes which could be done more energy efficiently and with less capital costs with enzymes.
  8. Subscribersonhouse
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    16 Jan '20 13:02
    @humy
    My guess is when quantum computers are real finally, there will be a combined supercomputer and quantum where the quantum would be like an extension or a subroutine of the supercomp. If the left hand don't get you the right hand will😉 But of course that is decades from now so just speculation.
    You would still need regular I/O and such anyway so some form of regular comp would be needed in any case.
  9. Standard memberbunnyknight
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    16 Jan '20 16:19
    I've done all sorts of programming, even in high school, but I wouldn't have a clue how to program a quantum computer. It's just too strange.
  10. Subscribersonhouse
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    17 Jan '20 00:19
    @bunnyknight
    It's like Shaman hand waving, for sure!
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