A Primer on Quantum Information Processing

Quantum Information Processing (QIP) combines the principles of quantum physics, mathematics, and computer science. QIP’s ultimate goal is to harness quantum physics to build “quantum” computers that could dramatically exceed the capabilities of today's “classical” computers. In the meantime, QIP has already created opportunities for significant advances in cryptography, and secured communications and networking.

The potential impact of quantum computing is far-reaching. In the area of security, for example, quantum computing can find prime factors of large integers in a matter of seconds whereas classical computing would require years. As a result, quantum computing undermines the foundation of digitally-based security systems which have been built on the assumption that their security algorithms can’t be “cracked” within a reasonable length of time. This vulnerability may force a rethinking of standard encryption schemes – including the RSA crypto-system.

Geza Giedke’s article “What is Quantum Information Processing?” sketches out the basics of QIP, and summarizes the current state of QIP technology in several important fields. For further reading, Giedke also provides abundant links to online tutorials and articles with varying levels of technical detail. Non-technical resources are marked with an asterisk "*".

We’ve also compiled an additional list of references in major areas of QIP for those interested in exploring specific topics in more depth.