Events & Calendars Is There a Quantum Computer in Your Future?

The age of quantum computing appears to have snuck up on us: in just a few years the state of the art has gone from tiny prototypes in physics labs to commercial production of computer chips built of quantum bits (qubits). Despite this rapid advance in fabrication technology, surprisingly little is known about what these chips are capable of, or even how exactly they work.

Last year Catherine McGeoch, Beitzel Professor in Technology and Society (Computer Science) helped design a set of benchmark tests to evaluate performance of a quantum computer system. She will talk about this work, starting with a gentle introduction to the main ideas of quantum computation. The talk will conclude with some wild speculation about the future of quantum computers.