Physical Society Colloquium

The International Race For A Quantum Computer

Stephanie Simmons

Department of Physics
Simon Fraser University

Silicon transistors, the essential building block of most modern electronic devices, cannot shrink much further without being rendered inoperable by quantum mechanics. This classical-quantum threshold in fact presents a tremendous opportunity: if we harness quantum mechanics, rather than attempt to avoid it, we could build a quantum computer. Quantum computers will open up a new world of opportunities — they could accomplish certain computational tasks exponentially faster which would otherwise be forever impractical. A few recent demonstrations in the US, China and Canada have claimed to have already outperformed the world’s top supercomputers using quantum computers at a few specific computational challenges. During this lecture, Dr. Simmons will discuss quantum computing approaches (including her own, based upon CMOS-compatible silicon photonics & spins), how quantum technologies will change our lives in a very fundamental way, and provide a snapshot of the accelerating worldwide race to build a prototype.