quantum computing

1 definition found

quantum computing - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  quantum computer
  quantum computing
  
     <computer> A type of computer which uses the ability of
     quantum systems, such as a collection of atoms, to be in many
     different states at once.  In theory, such superpositions
     allow the computer to perform many different computations
     simultaneously.  This capability is combined with interference
     among the states to produce answers to some problems, such as
     factoring integers, much more rapidly than is possible with
     conventional computers.  In practice, such machines have not
     yet been built due to their extreme sensitivity to noise.
  
     Oxford University (http://eve.physics.ox.ac.uk/QChome.html),
     Stanford University (http://feynman.stanford.edu/qcomp/).
  
     A quantum search algorithm (ftp://parcftp.xerox.com/pub/dynamics/quantum.html)
      for
     constraint satisfaction problems exhibits the phase
     transition for NP-complete problems.
  
     (1997-02-11)