1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to quantum computing and to solid state devices that use superconducting materials to create and maintain coherent quantum states such as required for quantum computing.
2. Description of Related Art
Research on what is now called quantum computing traces back to Richard Feynman, [R. Feynman, Int. J. Theor. Phys., 21, 467–488 (1982)]. Feynman noted that quantum systems are inherently difficult to simulate with conventional computers but that observing the evolution of a quantum system could provide a much faster way to solve the some computational problems. In particular, solving a theory for the behavior of a quantum system commonly involves solving a differential equation related to the Hamiltonian of the quantum system. Observing the behavior of the quantum system provides information regarding the solutions to the equation.
Further efforts in quantum computing were initially concentrated on “software development” or building of the formal theory of quantum computing. Software for quantum computing attempts to set the Hamiltonian of a quantum system to correspond to a problem requiring solution. Milestones in these efforts were the discoveries of the Shor and Grover algorithms. [See P. Shor, SIAM J. of Comput., 26:5, 1484–1509 (1997); L. Grover, Proc. 28th STOC, 212–219 (1996); and A. Kitaev, LANL preprint quant-ph/9511026 (1995)]. In particular, the Shor algorithm permits a quantum computer to factorize natural numbers. The showing that fault-tolerant quantum computation is theoretically possible opened the way for attempts at practical realizations of quantum computers. [See E. Knill, R. Laflamme, and W. Zurek, Science, 279, p. 342 (1998).]
One proposed application of a quantum computer is factoring of large numbers. In such an application, a quantum computer could render obsolete all existing encryption schemes that use the “public key” method. In another application, quantum computers (or even a smaller scale device, a quantum repeater) could allow absolutely safe communication channels, where a message, in principle, cannot be intercepted without being destroyed in the process. [See H. J. Briegel et al., LANL preprint quant-ph/9803056 (1998) and the references therein.]
Quantum computing generally involves initializing the states of N qubits (quantum bits), creating controlled entanglements among the N qubits, allowing the quantum states of the qubits to evolve under the influence of the entanglements, and reading the qubits after they have evolved. A qubit is conventionally a system having two degenerate quantum states, and the initial state of the qubit typically has non-zero probabilities of being found in either degenerate state. Thus, N qubits define an initial state that is a combination of 2N degenerate states. The entanglements control the evolution of the distinguishable quantum states and define calculations that the evolution of the quantum states performs. This evolution, in effect, performs 2N simultaneous calculations. Reading the qubits after evolution is complete determines the states of the qubits and the results of the calculations.
Several physical systems have been proposed for the qubits in a quantum computer. One system uses chemicals having degenerate spin states. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques can read the spin states. These systems have successfully implemented the Shor algorithm for factoring of a natural number (15). However, efforts to expand such systems up to a commercially useful number of qubits face difficult challenges.
Another physical system for implementing a qubit includes a superconducting reservoir, a superconducting island, and a dirty Josephson junction that can transmit a Cooper pair (of electrons) from the reservoir into the island. The island has two degenerate states. One state is electrically neutral, but the other state has an extra Cooper pair on the island. A problem with this system is that the charge of the island in the state having the extra Cooper pair causes long range electric interactions that interfere with the coherence of the state of the qubit. The electric interactions can force the island into a state that definitely has or lacks an extra Cooper pair. Accordingly, the electric interactions can end the evolution of the state before calculations are complete or qubits are read. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as collapsing the wavefunction, loss of coherence, or decoherence.
Research is continuing and seeking a structure that implements a quantum computer having a sufficient number of qubits to perform useful calculations.