Silicon electronics are a staple of the computing industry, but researchers are now exploring other techniques to deliver powerful computers.
 Quantum computers are able to tackle complex problems |
A quantum computer is a theoretical device that would make use of the properties of quantum mechanics, the realm of physics that deals with energy and matter at atomic scales.
In a quantum computer data is not processed by electrons passing through transistors, as is the case in today's computers, but by caged atoms known as quantum bits or Qubits.
"It is a new paradigm for computation," said Professor Artur Ekert of the University of Oxford. "It's doing computation differently."
A bit is a simple unit of information that is represented by a "1" or a "0" in a conventional electronic computer.
A qubit can also represent a "1" or a "0" but crucially can be both at the same time - known as a superposition.
This allows a quantum computer to work through many problems and arrive at their solutions simultaneously.
"It is like massively parallel processing but in one piece of hardware," said Professor Ekert.
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