Quantum Computing Closer To Reality With Breakthrough In ‘Fredkin Gate’ – ‘Qubits’ Building Simplified Larger Quantum Circuits


A major breakthrough in “Fredkin Gate” could allow significant acceleration in the development of quantum computers. The new method to build larger quantum circuits using stabilized superimposed “Qubits” have successfully proven more robust quantum circuits can be directly built using photons, avoiding the complexity posed by depending on multiple miniature logic gates.

The successful generation of a Fredkin gate, a highly critical but once thought to be complex building block for quantum computers, can now truly bring the creation of powerful quantum computers, closer to reality. Scientists have longed for the development of quantum computers, which are capable of processing information at speeds that are at least a million times faster than current day digital electronic computers owing to their reliance on superimposed quantum bits (Qubits) instead of the inherently slower data encoded in binary (0 and 1), reported Main News Online.

Scientists at Griffith University and the University of Queensland in Australia have jointly announced that they have developed a way to simplify complicated logic operation by creating a quantum “Fredkin gate” for the first time ever. The methodology detailed in the journal Science Advances, is being considered as a major breakthrough in speeding the development of quantum computers. Speaking about the achievements, Raj Patel, from the Griffith University’s Centre for Quantum Dynamics, said the following.

“Much like our everyday computer, the brains of a quantum computer consist of chains of logic gates, although quantum logic gates harness quantum phenomena. Similar to building a huge wall out of lots of small bricks, large quantum circuits require very many logic gates to function. However, if larger bricks are used the same wall could be built with far fewer bricks. We demonstrate in our experiment how one can build larger quantum circuits in a more direct way without using small logic gates.”

Patel used the analogue of masonry bricks to indicate how the Fredkin gate, a particular type of quantum logic gate, was used in conjunction with the basic building blocks of quantum computing: Qubits (quantum bits). Instead of using the binary digits, commonly known as “bits,” quantum computers rely on qubits.

The Fredkin gate offers a much better purpose than just the superimposition of the qubits, which is inherently responsible for speeding up the processing power in quantum computers, shared co-author Timothy Ralph from the University of Queensland.

“The quantum Fredkin gate can also be used to perform a direct comparison of two sets of qubits to determine whether they are the same or not. This is not only useful in computing but is an essential feature of some secure quantum communication protocols where the goal is to verify that two strings, or digital signatures, are the same.”

Essentially, Fredkin gates are a location in quantum computer circuits where bits can be changed or swapped depending on a third value, reported HNGN. Traditionally, they require at least five logic operations to build. However, the new study proved that a much simplified process could achieve the same feat with a lot less number of logic operations by using particles of light or photons. Using these particles of light, the team managed to implement the Fredkin gate operation directly, added the team in their statement,

“The research team used the quantum entanglement of photons – particles of light – to implement the controlled-SWAP operation directly.”

Besides controlling whether qubits are swapped, the breakthrough in the implementation of Fredkin gates can be directly applied to multiple operations and opens new ways in controlling larger quantum circuits much more efficiently.

Quantum computers are still a distant dream, but companies like Google have been making steady progress. These superfast computing machines are expected to crunch data and produce results way faster than any supercomputer in existence today, allowing processes to be highly optimized in real-time and solve insanely complex simulations within a matter of seconds and not years.

[Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/Getty Images]

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