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A view of a 16-qubit processor mounted in its sample holder

A picture of the Orion chip’s sample holder attached to a Leiden Cryogenics dilution fridge

An optical picture of the Orion processor with 16-qubits
Canadian company D-Wave shows off technology that promises to give quantum computing capabilities to mainstream industry

Canadian firm D-Wave Systems unveiled and demonstrated today what it calls “the world's first commercially viable quantum computer.” Company officials announced the technology at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California in a demonstration intended to show how the machine can run commercial applications and is better suited to the types of problems that have stymied conventional (digital) computers.

The demonstration of the technology was held at the Computer History Museum, but the actual hardware remained in Burnaby, BC where it was being chilled down to 5 millikelvin, or minus 273.145 degrees Celsius (colder than interstellar space), with liquid helium.

Quantum computers rely on quantum mechanics, the rules that underlie the behavior of all matter and energy, to accelerate computation. It has been known for some time that once some simple features of quantum mechanics are harnessed, machines will be built capable of outperforming any conceivable conventional supercomputer. But D-Wave explains that its new device is intended as a complement to conventional computers, to augment existing machines and their market, not to replace them.

To make the technology commercially applicable, D-Wave used the processes and infrastructure associated with the semiconductor industry. The D-Wave computer, dubbed Orion, is based on a silicon chip containing 16 quantum bits, or “qubits,” which are capable of retaining both binary values of zero and one. The qubits mimic each others’ values allowing for an amplification of their computational power. D-Wave says that its system is scalable by adding multiples of qubits. The company expects to have 32-qubit systems by the end of this year, and as many as 1024-qubit systems by the end of 2008.

"D-Wave's breakthrough in quantum technology represents a substantial step forward in solving commercial and scientific problems which, until now, were considered intractable. Digital technology stands to reap the benefits of enhanced performance and broader application," said Herb Martin, chief executive officer.

Quantum-computer technology can solve what is known as "NP-complete" problems. These are the problems where the sheer volume of complex data and variables prevent digital computers from achieving results in a reasonable amount of time. Such problems are associated with life sciences, biometrics, logistics, parametric database search and quantitative finance, among many other commercial and scientific areas.

As an example, consider the modeling of a nanosized structure, such as a drug molecule, using non-quantum computers. Solving the Schrodinger Equation more than doubles in difficulty for every electron in the molecule. This is called exponential scaling, and prohibits solution of the Schrodinger Equation for systems greater than about 30 electrons. A single caffeine molecule has more than 100 electrons, making it roughly 10^44 times harder to solve than a 30-electron system, which itself makes even high-end supercomputers choke.

Quantum computers are capable of solving the Schrodinger Equation with linear scaling exponentially faster and with exponentially less hardware than conventional computers. For a quantum computers, the difficulty in solving the Schrodinger Equation increases by a small, fixed amount for every electron in a system. Even very primitive quantum computers will be able to outperform supercomputers in simulating nature.

"Quantum technology delivers precise answers to problems that can only be answered today in general terms. This creates a new and much broader dimension of computer applications," Martin said.

"Digital computing delivers value in a wide range of applications to business, government and scientific users. In many cases the applications are computationally simple and in others accuracy is forfeited for getting adequate solutions in a reasonable amount of time. Both of these cases will maintain the status quo and continue their use of classical digital systems," he said.

"It's rational to assume that quantum computers will always contain a digital computing element thereby increasing the amortization of investments already made while expediting the availability of the power of quantum acceleration," he said.

For more technical information quantum computing, read D-Wave founder and CTO Geordie Rose’s blog.

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What they don't tell you
By darkfoon on 2/14/2007 7:03:17 PM , Rating: 2
Computer encryption algorithms (especially RSA) rely upon the assumption that their algorithms take polynomial time to brute-force an encryption key.

However, since this quantum computer can solve NP-complete(and IIRC, most encryption algos are NP-complete) problems in linear time, the time it takes to brute-force an encryption key becomes significantly less.
You can bet Governments will be buying these machines to break encrypted data.

Privacy is gone for good!




RE: What they don't tell you
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 2/14/2007 7:08:07 PM , Rating: 2
I'm of the school of thought that our government has had machines like these for years.


RE: What they don't tell you
By brenatevi on 2/14/2007 7:31:24 PM , Rating: 2
There are ways of keeping your privacy. You just have to avoid computers. =P


RE: What they don't tell you
By darkfoon on 2/14/2007 7:50:54 PM , Rating: 2
I would believe that they have more supercomputing power than they lead people to believe, but I do not think they have machines like this.

I remember reading an interview with Jim Christy, where he states that he is "worried" that he and his team won't be able to crack a drive with Vista's Bit-locker Drive encryption on it. Now, that could just be reverse psychology and in reality bit-locker could be easier for his team to break than competing technologies.

So perhaps, there still is a need for faster computing that the gov't doesn't already have, and cracking encrypted volumes still takes considerable time.


RE: What they don't tell you
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 2/14/2007 8:11:12 PM , Rating: 3
Well, let's consider two things: 1.) Christy is an exec in the Air Force investigation unit. I'm not knocking the AF, it certainly is the most *wired* department in the military, but there is a lot of evidence that suggests the capabilities of the NSA and CIA are significantly more advanced.

2.) In the late 80s and early 90s, U.S. private research groups and academia had a golden age with regards to quantum algorithms. Heck, everything Shor touched was gold research at the time. Yet from 1995 to 2005, the research goes a little dark. You still have announcements and breakthroughs, but its once a year instead of every three weeks. Since 2005, you have a new announcement every week about quantum computing again.

Not to sound like a conspiracy nut, but if a government agency had a quantum computer, it would be the 21st century equivalent of "the bomb." How many other research projects has the U.S. government easily hid for decades before the public caught up? (hint, it's really easy to do when you're fighting a war).

I think its entirely possible the U.S. has been doing research on this outside the public eye for decades, and a few prototype machines tucked away for high-priority uses seems very plausible.


RE: What they don't tell you
By msva124 on 2/14/2007 8:24:34 PM , Rating: 2
Nobody knows for sure. I'd say it's unlikely, given that back during WWII it was "in" to be a scientist for the government, cause you were saving the world. Now they're kind of at odds with the scientific community.


RE: What they don't tell you
By Ringold on 2/14/2007 8:29:59 PM , Rating: 2
Well, using the NRO example, it started in 1960 but its very existance was classified until 1992.

Like I said in another post, I think it's wrong to underestimate scientists in secret facilities with billion dollar budgets.

Likewise, I fully believe that the discussion is 99% moot because if they do have it it's likely that few people breathing today will be around to hear them admit to it. The government is becoming more opaque over time, not more transparent, so unlike some Cold War toys, things they've got today may never be disclosed.


RE: What they don't tell you
By paydirt on 2/15/2007 10:21:50 AM , Rating: 2
There's a lot of secrecy going on. For example an acquaintance of mine wrote a research paper on training sensors to behave like the human eye; the government immediately classified it and said it was theirs. This was probably more than 10 years ago.

Regardless, I prefer to remain blissfully unaware. I like my life better this way. :)


RE: What they don't tell you
By hubajube on 2/15/2007 1:32:46 PM , Rating: 2
I don't know about the CIA but the NSA has a HUGE budget and a ton of very advanced tools. Not to mention, VERY smart people.


RE: What they don't tell you
By Ringold on 2/14/2007 8:25:50 PM , Rating: 2
I'm of a similar school of thought as Kristopher there. I'm by no means a conspiracy theorist, but the fuzzy nature of the NRO budget means that only god and the individual agencies themselves have the slightest clue as to what they have and don't have. It would neither surprise me if they had a quantum computer in every spy satellite or if they didn't. And the NRO is only one of an alphabet soup of intelligence agencies that're steeped in secrecy and flush with more money than the GDP of third world countries.

As wasteful and inefficient as government is, never underestimate the power of a few PhD government wonks in secret lairs/labs and billion dollar budgets. ;)


RE: What they don't tell you
By Kougar on 2/14/2007 8:15:36 PM , Rating: 3
Intriguing thought... this did seem rather out of the blue to go from theory to finality.

I still say that one photo reminds me of the warp core of Cochran's Phoenix.


RE: What they don't tell you
By Kougar on 2/14/2007 8:17:24 PM , Rating: 2
I take that back! It's the prop from Honey I Shrunk the Kids movie!! ;)


RE: What they don't tell you
By shadowofthesun on 2/14/2007 10:07:51 PM , Rating: 3
Interesting point- however, another key part of quantum computing is quantum encription, where its theoretically impossible to break the code regardless of computing power or resources, because attempting to read the data itself fundamentally alters it. It comes from the idea that quantum-mechanics can't be observed without changing the reaction. I don't particularly understand it myself, as I don't consider myself any sort of expert in the subject. Popular Science and technology Review are two magazines I know who have published articles on the subject; I'm sure a google search would be more informative than this post. Granted, this technology is further away than the computer chip is, but it signals not the end of privacy, but the beginning of a new age of information encryption and security- makes this quite an exciting time to be alive, no?


RE: What they don't tell you
By bunnyfubbles on 2/15/2007 5:26:26 AM , Rating: 4
quote:
makes this quite an exciting time to be alive, no?


Yes, until SkyNet becomes self-aware.


RE: What they don't tell you
By mrgq912 on 2/15/2007 1:48:44 PM , Rating: 2
funny thing is just saw T3 on AMC a couple of nights ago.

sidenote: They should re-shoot T3, find a new john conner, a new super terminator, new chick, and start the movie script near the end of T3. All the BS that happens at the start of T3 is just a waste. I care about how the AI spread and how the initial resistance was started.


RE: What they don't tell you
By mezman on 2/15/2007 4:20:27 PM , Rating: 3
To continue the off topic T3 business: Did anyone else notice the fundamental flaw in Skynet's plan at the end of the movie?

Thanks to advances in computer tech, the idea for Skynet morphed from a program running on a singular server in a gov't basement somewhere in T1 and T2 to a piece of distributed software that installed itself over the internet on home PCs in T3 and talked to itself over the internet.

Then (I hope I'm not ruining it for anyone), Skynet proceeds to launch thermo-nukes to destroy it's distributed install base and destroy the network infrastructure it was using to communicate with itself.

Did anyone else have a problem with that little tidbit of writing?


RE: What they don't tell you
By angryhippy on 2/15/2007 6:00:44 PM , Rating: 2
Then (I hope I'm not ruining it for anyone), Skynet proceeds to launch thermo-nukes to destroy it's distributed install base and destroy the network infrastructure it was using to communicate with itself.

Did anyone else have a problem with that little tidbit of writing?

Yes, I thought the same thing. Not to mention how it manages to maintain itself and build construction robots, manufacturing plants, ect. Hopefully they're explain it in T4. :-)


RE: What they don't tell you
By masher2 (blog) on 2/15/2007 8:44:31 AM , Rating: 3
> "another key part of quantum computing is quantum encription, where its theoretically impossible to break the code regardless of computing power or resources, because attempting to read the data itself fundamentally alters it...."

Allow me to correct a couple things. Quantum encryption isn't "unbreakable"-- its simply impossible to eavesdrop upon without informing the receiver. But that doesn't prevent you from intercepting a message and decrypting it.

Secondly, quantum encryption has little to do with quantum computing per se, especially in the case of machines like this D-Wave prototype, which relies upon quantum tunneling, not the entanglement required for encryption.