Quantum information science is a field that combines the principles of
quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...
with
information theory
Information theory is the mathematical study of the quantification (science), quantification, Data storage, storage, and telecommunications, communication of information. The field was established and formalized by Claude Shannon in the 1940s, ...
to study the processing, analysis, and transmission of information. It covers both theoretical and experimental aspects of quantum physics, including the limits of what can be achieved with
quantum information
Quantum information is the information of the state of a quantum system. It is the basic entity of study in quantum information theory, and can be manipulated using quantum information processing techniques. Quantum information refers to both t ...
. The term quantum information theory is sometimes used, but it does not include experimental research and can be confused with a subfield of quantum information science that deals with the processing of quantum information.
Scientific and engineering studies
Quantum teleportation
Quantum teleportation is a technique for transferring quantum information from a sender at one location to a receiver some distance away. While teleportation is commonly portrayed in science fiction as a means to transfer physical objects from on ...
,
entanglement and the manufacturing of
quantum computers depend on a comprehensive understanding of quantum physics and engineering.
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
and
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
have invested significantly in quantum computer hardware research, leading to significant progress in manufacturing quantum computers since the 2010s. Currently, it is possible to create a quantum computer with over 100
qubit
In quantum computing, a qubit () or quantum bit is a basic unit of quantum information—the quantum version of the classic binary bit physically realized with a two-state device. A qubit is a two-state (or two-level) quantum-mechanical syste ...
s, but the error rate is high due to the lack of suitable materials for quantum computer manufacturing.
Majorana fermions may be a crucial missing material.
Quantum cryptography
Quantum cryptography is the science of exploiting quantum mechanical properties to perform cryptographic tasks. The best known example of quantum cryptography is quantum key distribution, which offers an information-theoretically secure soluti ...
devices are now available for commercial use. The
one time pad, a cipher used by spies during the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, uses a sequence of random keys for encryption. These keys can be securely exchanged using quantum entangled particle pairs, as the principles of the
no-cloning theorem and
wave function collapse ensure the secure exchange of the random keys. The development of devices that can transmit quantum entangled particles is a significant scientific and engineering goal.
Qiskit,
Cirq and
Q Sharp are popular quantum programming languages. Additional
programming languages
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs.
Programming languages are described in terms of their syntax (form) and semantics (meaning), usually defined by a formal language. Languages usually provide features ...
for quantum computers are needed, as well as a larger community of competent quantum programmers. To this end, additional learning resources are needed, since there are many fundamental differences in quantum programming which limits the number of skills that can be carried over from traditional programming.
Related mathematical subjects
Quantum algorithms
In quantum computing, a quantum algorithm is an algorithm that runs on a realistic model of quantum computation, the most commonly used model being the quantum circuit model of computation. A classical (or non-quantum) algorithm is a finite sequ ...
and
quantum complexity theory
Quantum complexity theory is the subfield of computational complexity theory that deals with complexity classes defined using quantum computers, a computational model based on quantum mechanics. It studies the hardness of computational problems ...
are two of the subjects in
algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...
s and
computational complexity theory
In theoretical computer science and mathematics, computational complexity theory focuses on classifying computational problems according to their resource usage, and explores the relationships between these classifications. A computational problem ...
. In 1994, mathematician
Peter Shor
Peter Williston Shor (born August 14, 1959) is an American theoretical computer scientist known for his work on quantum computation, in particular for devising Shor's algorithm, a quantum algorithm for factoring exponentially faster than the ...
introduced a quantum algorithm for
prime factorization
In mathematics, integer factorization is the decomposition of a positive integer into a product of integers. Every positive integer greater than 1 is either the product of two or more integer factors greater than 1, in which case it is a comp ...
that, with a quantum computer containing 4,000
logical qubits, could potentially break widely used ciphers like
RSA and
ECC, posing a major security threat. This led to increased investment in
quantum computing
A quantum computer is a computer that exploits quantum mechanical phenomena. On small scales, physical matter exhibits properties of wave-particle duality, both particles and waves, and quantum computing takes advantage of this behavior using s ...
research and the development of
post-quantum cryptography
Post-quantum cryptography (PQC), sometimes referred to as quantum-proof, quantum-safe, or quantum-resistant, is the development of cryptographic algorithms (usually public-key algorithms) that are currently thought to be secure against a crypt ...
to prepare for the fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC) era.
See also
*
Glossary of quantum computing
*
Information theory
Information theory is the mathematical study of the quantification (science), quantification, Data storage, storage, and telecommunications, communication of information. The field was established and formalized by Claude Shannon in the 1940s, ...
*
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...
*
Quantum computing
A quantum computer is a computer that exploits quantum mechanical phenomena. On small scales, physical matter exhibits properties of wave-particle duality, both particles and waves, and quantum computing takes advantage of this behavior using s ...
*
Quantum error correction
Quantum error correction (QEC) is a set of techniques used in quantum computing to protect quantum information from errors due to decoherence and other quantum noise. Quantum error correction is theorised as essential to achieve fault tolerant ...
*
Quantum information theory
Quantum information is the information of the state of a quantum system. It is the basic entity of study in quantum information theory, and can be manipulated using quantum information processing techniques. Quantum information refers to both t ...
*
Quantum cryptography
Quantum cryptography is the science of exploiting quantum mechanical properties to perform cryptographic tasks. The best known example of quantum cryptography is quantum key distribution, which offers an information-theoretically secure soluti ...
and its generalization, quantum communication
*
Quantum communication complexity
*
Quantum entanglement
Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon where the quantum state of each Subatomic particle, particle in a group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, even when the particles are separated by a large distance. The topic o ...
, as seen from an information-theoretic point of view
*
Quantum dense coding
*
Quantum teleportation
Quantum teleportation is a technique for transferring quantum information from a sender at one location to a receiver some distance away. While teleportation is commonly portrayed in science fiction as a means to transfer physical objects from on ...
*
Entanglement-assisted classical capacity
*
No-communication theorem
*
Quantum capacity
*
Quantum communication channel
*
Quantum decision tree complexity
*
Timeline of quantum computing and communication
*
Petz recovery map
References
*
External links
Quantiki– quantum information science portal and wiki.
ERA-Pilot QIST WP1European roadmap on Quantum Information Processing and Communication
QIIC– Quantum Information, Imperial College London.
QIP– Quantum Information Group, University of Leeds. The quantum information group at the University of Leeds is engaged in researching a wide spectrum of aspects of quantum information. This ranges from algorithms, quantum computation, to physical implementations of information processing and fundamental issues in quantum mechanics. Also contains some basic tutorials for the lay audience.
mathQIResearch Group on Mathematics and Quantum Information.
CQISTCenter for Quantum Information Science & Technology at the University of Southern California
CQuICCenter for Quantum Information and Control, including theoretical and experimental groups from University of New Mexico, University of Arizona.
CQTCentre for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore
CQC2TCentre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology
QST@LSUQuantum Science and Technologies Group at Louisiana State University
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