Quantum computers could power the gadgets in your pocket in the future.
Quantum Computers Could Change Everything — Here's What You Need to Know in Under 4 Minutes | Forbes
Today’s smallest quantum computers are too big to be portable, but MIT researchers have now used ultrathin materials to build superconducting qubits, the quantum computer equivalent of transistors. It’s part of an accelerated effort to make quantum computers practical for everyday use.
“Quantum devices, particularly for sensing enabled by solid-state quantum technology, are well on their way to becoming ‘personal electronics,’” Prineha Narang, a professor of computational materials science at Harvard University who studies quantum computing (who was not involved in the MIT study), told Lifewire in an email interview. “There are many advantages to small-footprint sensors, particularly distributed quantum sensors.”
Part of the key to making a more practical quantum computer is size. Transistors in conventional computers are made on the nanometer scale, while superconducting qubits, the quantum mechanical analog of a classical bit, are still measured in millimeters.
