Turning ‘Funky’ Quantum Mysteries into Computing Reality
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. “” The strange world of quantum mechanics can
provide a way to surpass limits in speed, efficiency and
accuracy of computing, communications and measurement, according
to research by MIT scientist Seth Lloyd. Quantum mechanics is
the set of physical theories that explain the behavior of matter
and energy at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It
includes a number of strange properties that differ
significantly from the way things work at sizes that people can
observe directly, which are governed by classical physics.
“There are limits, if you think classically,” said Lloyd, a
professor in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics and
Department of Mechanical Engineering. But while classical
physics imposes limits that are already beginning to constrain
things like computer chip development and precision measuring
systems, “once you think quantum mechanically you can start to
surpass those limits,” he said. Lloyd will be speaking