Quantum information is physical
Abstract
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.
- Publication:
-
Superlattices and Microstructures
- Pub Date:
- March 1998
- DOI:
- 10.1006/spmi.1997.0520
- arXiv:
- arXiv:cond-mat/9710259
- Bibcode:
- 1998SuMi...23..419D
- Keywords:
-
- entanglement;
- quantum computation;
- quantum dots;
- Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics;
- Quantum Physics
- E-Print:
- 28 pages, Latex, 2 eps figures, Paper to be published in Superlattices and Microstructures, Special Issue on the Occasion of Rolf Landauer's 70th Birthday. V2: 11 pages, small corrections to Sect. IV and to figures