Quantum technology

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Quantum technology is a new field of physics and engineering, which transitions some of the stranger features of quantum mechanics, especially quantum entanglement, into practical applications such as quantum computing, quantum cryptography, quantum metrology, quantum sensing, and quantum imaging.

The field of quantum technology was first outlined in a 1997 book by Gerard J. Milburn,^[1] which was then followed by a 2003 article by Jonathan P. Dowling and Gerard J. Milburn,^[2]^[3] as well as a 2003 article by David Deutsch.^[4] The field of quantum technology has benefited immensely from the influx of new ideas from the field of quantum information processing, particularly quantum computing. Disparate areas of quantum physics, such as quantum optics, atom optics, quantum electronics, and quantum nanomechanical devices, have been unified under the search for a quantum computer and given a common language, that of quantum information theory.

In concise terms, a quantum computer will someday be a giant quantum interferometer consisting of millions of quantum entangled particles, which will solve mathematical problems not solvable on any classical computer. This feat itself is to be one of the crowning jewels of quantum technology. However, once such a machine exists, it will be put to work on other tasks related to imaging, sensing, clock synchronization, and precision measurement.

[edit] References

^ Schrödinger's Machines, G.J.Milburn, W H Freeman & Co. (1997)
^ "Quantum Technology: The Second Quantum Revolution,"J.P.Dowling and G.J.Milburn, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 361, 3655 (2003)
^ "Quantum Technology: The Second Quantum Revolution," J.P.Dowling and G.J.Milburn, arXiv:quant-ph/0206091v1
^ "Physics, Philosophy, and Quantum Technology," D.Deutsch in the Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computing, Shapiro, J.H. and Hirota, O., Eds. (Rinton Press, Princeton, NJ. 2003)