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Whatsapp Quantum computers will be able to carry out thousands of calculations at super fast speeds.

Charismatic Canadian PM Justin Trudeau recently put quantum computing in the spotlight when his explanation of the complex technology went viral. But how far off is a quantum computer and what could it achieve?

It's not just Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who's excited about quantum computing. Our own Malcolm Turnbull has shown a great deal of enthusiasm for the technology.

I don't think we have even begun to fully imagine how it will change our lives.

Researchers around the globe believe the development of a functioning quantum computer is now within reach. These computers will be super-fast and while it's unlikely that they will be used for everyday personal computing, they could make a huge difference in industries that require complex calculations.

Professor Michelle Simmons, the director of Centre for Quantum Computation at the University of New South Wales, uses a logistics scenario to explain the technology's potential benefits.

'If you have a salesman that wants to go to lots of different cities and work out the shortest possible route, the number of routes grows very, very quickly as you increase the number of cities,' she says.

'Already by the time of 14 different cities there are already 1011 possible routes, which is a huge number. But classical computers are very fast ... it typically would only take around 100 seconds to work out what the shortest possible route is for 14 cities.

'But by the time you get to just 22 cities, only increasing it by a small number, there are now 1019 possible routes. For that same computer it would now take 1,600 years to work out what is the shortest possible route.

'A quantum computer working in a parallel processing fashion will be able to get those problems solved in real-time.'

The mechanics of quantum computers are difficult to explain.

Normal computers work on a binary system, where the value of numbers is expressed using only two symbols—one and zero. All forms of calculation are done using combinations of one and zero, and each individual digit of information produced in this way is known as a bit.

However, by manipulating atoms in a certain way, quantum physicists can now produce individual digits of information that can be both one and zero at the same time. In other words, they can have two states simultaneously. This significantly multiplies the number of calculations that can be done in a given period of time.

A single quantum digit is called a qubit. Making a qubit—or quantum bit—is hard enough, but the biggest difficulty is controlling them so that they can be used for calculation.

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Australians leading the way in silicon technology

The Centre for Quantum Computation at the University of New South Wales was recently given $46 million dollars of funding from the Australian government and several industry bodies.

They received that money in part because of the success they've had using phosphorus atoms encased in silicon to make qubits. The ingenious thing about using a silicon casing, or chip, as the structural framework for the atoms, is that it mimics the current computer industry standard—the silicon chip.

'You're looking at engineering down at the atomic level, so using atoms to store information,' says Simmons. 'At that level you've basically got to be able to put the information in, keep it in its quantum state and then be able to read it out separately.

'Choosing silicon has really been a big boon because the silicon chrysalis itself is incredibly stable, it has nothing floating around that can interact with your qubit, but it is inherently manufacturable.'

In addition to Turnbull and Trudeau's endorsement of quantum technology, the British and American governments have also committed resources to the development of these super-fast computers. Simmons says this international support is integral to the success of the technology.

'It is a transformational technology and it's not just one little gadget that you make that has a very focused industry around it—[it] will affect most industries in Australia,' she says.

'I think having government and industry support going forward is essential to make this happen.'

The dark side of the Quantum Age

James Der Derian is the director of the Centre for International Security Studies at the University of Sydney. For the past three years he's run Project Q, an annual international symposium that brings together an inter-disciplinary group of speakers to explore what he describes as 'the origins, elements and outcomes of a quantum age'.

'There are differing opinions and timeframes for when, but not if, quantum computing is going to be a game changer,' he says. 'I don't think we have even begun to fully imagine how it will change our lives.'

'When the classical computer first appeared with vacuum tubes and a very large room, people at the time like Thomas Watson said, "I can't imagine we will ever need more than five of these."'

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Whatsapp Early computers were so large that it was hard to imagine them being used in daily life. Will the same be true of quantum compters?

In fact, Der Derian argues that we have already entered the Quantum Age.

'I think we could start in 1900 with Max Planck coining this term; these discontinuous discrete packets of energy called quanta,' he says.

'The first wave or stage of the Quantum Age came with a lot of these theoretical or thought experiments—the gedankenexperiments—that made up the breakthroughs of the '20s at the Solvay Conference, and then with the Nobel Prizes one after another in the '30s that were all basically major breakthroughs in the theoretical physics, quantum mechanics.'

'You could argue that really the nuclear weapon is just one stage of a quantum revolution. The nuclear bomb wouldn't have been possible without the breakthroughs of quantum mechanics, nor would the transistor.'

While there are obvious benefits to be reaped from Quantum Age, there are also potential threats, and Der Derian says they need to be looked at critically. That's why he started Project Q.

'I think we need to step back and look at the implications, both positive and negative, that will come not just out of quantum computing but a lot of quantum innovations that go beyond the calculation element of it,' he says.

'[At Project Q] we bring together a lot of people who normally don't get into the same room, not just simply physicists and theorists of security studies, but also biologists, we have ethicists and many historians.

'In that enclosed space we really thrash it out: "What will be the implications, what is the likelihood of this having positive impact, what kind of oversight will there be?"'

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