Quantum information is physical

✍ Scribed by D.P. DiVincenzo; D. Loss

• Book ID: 102618020
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 188 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0749-6036
• DOI: 10.1006/spmi.1997.0520

✦ Synopsis

We discuss a few current developments in the use of quantum mechanically coherent systems for information processing. In each of these developments, Rolf Landauer has played a crucial role in nudging us, and other workers in the field, into asking the right questions, some of which we have been lucky enough to answer. A general overview of the key ideas of quantum error correction is given. We discuss how quantum entanglement is the key to protecting quantum states from decoherence in a manner which, in a theoretical sense, is as effective as the protection of digital data from bit noise. We also discuss five general criteria which must be satisfied to implement a quantum computer in the laboratory, and we illustrate the application of these criteria by discussing our ideas for creating a quantum computer out of the spin states of coupled quantum dots.