[ExI] 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2017

[BillK]

On 22 February 2017 at 15:39, spike wrote:
> WOW good question BillK.  How are they powered?
>

Well, nobody has built a proper quantum computer yet, (not counting
D-Wave), so we don't know yet.
Current estimate is 4 to 5 years.
See:
<https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603495/10-breakthrough-technologies-2017-practical-quantum-computing/>
for some of the latest news.

The labs described there use tiny chips inside big refrigerators to
get the chips down to near absolute zero. In space, the fridges would
disappear.
The processing depends on the manipulation of qubits, which currently
(during research) can take various forms. e.g. polarization of photons
or spin of electrons, etc.  So the power requirements should be less
than current computers, maybe even negligible.

We'll have to wait and see.  :)

BillK