Open Questions: Quantum Information and Computing

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Introduction

Spintronics

Quantum optics

Recommended references: Web sites

Recommended references: Technical surveys and reviews

Recommended references: Magazine/journal articles

Recommended references: Books

Introduction

Recommended references: Web sites

Site indexes

Quantum Computation WWW Sites: High quality, but not long, list of sites, compiled by the Stanford-Berkeley-MIT-IBM NMR Quantum Computation Project.
Yahoo Quantum Computing Links: Annotated list of links.
Galaxy: Quantum Computing: Categorized site directory. Entries usually include descriptive annotations. May be more here and here.
Galaxy: Quantum Teleportation: Categorized site directory. Entries usually include descriptive annotations. More here.

Sites with general resources

Centre for Quantum Computation: At Oxford University. "Provides useful information and links to all material in the field of quantum computing and information processing." Site contains a list of frequently asked questions, and an excellent collection of introductions and tutorials.
Quantum Experiments and the Foundations of Physics: Research group of Prof. A. Zeilinger at the University of Vienna. Deals with photonic entanglement and related phenomena. There are descriptions of research into quantum information theory. Zellinger's home page has some good articles on foundations of quantum mechanics, quantum teleportation, and quantum information.
Center for Spintronics and Quantum Information: "The Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation is part of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) based at the University of California - Santa Barbara. This multidisciplinary research center provides a focus for rapidly expanding research, education and training in spin-based electronics and quantum computation, with an emphasis on the potential realization in coherent electronic, magnetic and photonic nanostructures." Site features include information about the group's research, news, and a few external links.
Quantum Information Group: Research Group at the University of Leeds (UK). The site includes descriptions of research and many external links to other research groups.
The Physics of Quantum Information: Home page for a network of research groups studying quantum information.
Quantum Optics and Foundation of Physics: Contains references to various research groups working on quantum information and computing.
Quantum Information Research at NIST: Goals and Vision: Home page of research group at the U. S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Contains overviews like What Good is Quantum Information? and What Is Quantum Information? Also more details about Quantum Computing and Quantum Communications.
Toshiba Quantum Information Group: Main focus of research is quantum cryptography. Site contents include selected publications and news articles.
Quantum Information and Information Physics at IBM Research Yorktown: Has access to work at IBM on quantum computing, especially quantum teleportation, as well as some exteral links.
Quantum Computation/Cryptography at Los Alamos: Overview of work done at Los Alamos. Examples: quantum error correction, quantum teleportation.
Centre for Quantum Computer Technology: Home page of "an Australian multi-university collaboration undertaking research on the fundamental physics and technology of building, at the atomic level, a solid state quantum computer in silicon together with other high potential implementations." The site contains a brief introduction to quantum computing and some external links.
Institute for Quantum Computing: Home page of research group at the University of Waterloo (Canada). "The mission of the Institute is to advance fundamental experimental and theoretical knowledge in relevant areas of Engineering, Mathematics and Science to enhance the developments in the field of Quantum Computation and Information Processing."
HP Labs: Quantum Information Processing Group: Home page of HP Laboratories in Bristol, UK. Has some useful external links.
Trapped Ion Quantum Computing: Research group at the University of Michigan. "Our group focuses on the electromagnetic confinement of individual atoms for fundamental studies of quantum mechanics and applications in quantum information science." The site includes a FAQ, external links on quantum computing, and general information about the group's research.
Ion Quantum Technology Group: Home page of a research group at the University of Sussex (UK). "Our aim is to develop new quantum technologies, in particular, the ion trap quantum computer." In addition to the usual information about the group's research and publications, the site has some tutorials.
COSMQC Homepage: COSMQC is the Center for Oxide Semiconductor Materials for Quantum Computation. Its mission "is to develop oxide- semiconductor materials capable of scalable quantum information processing using spins in semiconductors."
Quantum Computing Technologies: Contains information related to the NASA/JPL programs in quantum computation and quantum metrology.
GAP Optique: Home page of the Group of Applied Physics at the University of Geneva, which concentrates on quantum optics, quantum teleportation, and related topics.
Caltech Quantum Optics: Home page of the Quantum Optics Group at Caltech. Describes several research programs, including quantum teleportation
Cavity QED Research: Description of research of the Quantum Optics Group at Caltech related to optical cavity quantum electrodynamics.
Quantum Optics at Georgia Tech: Site contains information on research projects and publications, news articles, and external links.
Quantum Optics at Harvard University: Site contains information on research projects and publications, news articles, and external links.
Quantum Logic and Coherent Control: Description of research into quantum phenomena involving trapped ions.
Mabuchi Lab Website: Home page of a Caltech research group whose interests include quantum information science and technology.
Kwiat Quantum Information Group: Research group at the University of Illinois. Site includes overviews of research areas and a list of publications.
Institute for Quantum Information: "The Institute sponsors programs which encourage the growth and development of the emerging field of quantum information science."
Quantum Technology Lab: Research laboratory at the University of Queensland (Australia). "Our Objective: To explore quantum mechanics with technologies that exploit the unique properties of quantum information."
The Physics of Quantum Information European Research Network: "The Physics of Quantum Information is a proposed European network within the TMR program of the European Commission. It will bring together for the first time all relevant European activities in the field of the physics of quantum information."
Centre for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information: Home page of a research group at the University of Innsbruck, containing information about research projects. The university also has a Quantum Optics and Spectroscopy Group.
Computational Nonlinear & Quantum Optics Group: University of Strathclyde (Scotland) research group home page. Contains information on projects, publications, computer animations, and a few external links.
The Stanford-Berkeley-MIT-IBM NMR Quantum Computation Project: Project home page, containing overview of the research, news, lists of participants, and external links.
The Delft Spin Qubit Project: Home page of a research group at Delft University that is investigating use of electron spin in quantum dots as a means for implementing quantum computers.
Martinis Group: Home page of a research group at U. C. Santa Barbara, led by John Martinis. The site has a list of the group's publications.

Surveys, overviews, tutorials

Quantum computer: Article from Wikipedia. See also Quantum information processing, Quantum information, Qubit, Quantum cryptography.
An Introduction to Quantum Computing: Very nice overview article, by Jacob West.
A short introduction to quantum computation: Good introduction by A. Barenco, A. Ekert, A. Sanpera, and C. Machiavello.
Quantum Cryptography Tutorial: Short but informative single-page overview of quantum cryptograpy, by James Ford.
Physicist takes a quantum leap: July 2009 press release about quantum computing research at the University of Queensland (Australia).
Quantum poker: Are the chips down or not?: May 2009 New Scientist article. "When quantum computers replace today's PCs, online poker players will have to master outlandish new strategies - such as betting and folding simultaneously."
Quantum computers get commercial - and hackable: April 2009 New Scientist article. "Machines that compute using quantum principles are arriving on the market at last, but claims of unbreakable security look unfounded."
Quantum Computing: Transcript of a radio program of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It is an interview with Andrew White and Michelle Simmons, experts in quantum computing.
Quantum Entanglement: November 2004 feature article from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The focus of the article is on applications such as quantum computing and cryptography.
Quantum computing... with a twist: September 2010 article from Physics World, by Steve Simon, about topological quantum computing.
The race to build a quantum computer: February 2009 article from Physics World. "Quantum computation was a highly speculative enterprise facing serious technological obstacles until a shy young physicist came along. Dave Bacon tells the story of Alexei Kitaev's big idea."
A quantum renaissance: July 2008 article from Physics World, by Markus Aspelmeyer and Anton Zeilinger. "Physicists can now routinely exploit the counterintuitive properties of quantum mechanics to transmit, encrypt and even process information. But the technological advances of quantum information science are now enabling researchers to readdress fundamental puzzles raised by quantum theory."
Quantum computing - a commercial reality?: April 2007 article from Physics World, by Edwin Cartlidge. "A small Canadian company says it has built the world's first commercial quantum computer. But not everyone is convinced that the firm's claims stack up."
Key to the quantum industry: March 2007 article from Physics World by Andrew Shields and Zhiliang Yuan. "Technology that exploits the strange rules of quantum mechanics to guarantee the security of encrypted messages is the first product of a new quantum-information industry to reach the market."
Ions break the record for entanglement: Summary of January 2006 article from Physics World, by Amber Jenkins. "Two groups of researchers have managed to entangle up to eight ions, raising the bar for future forays into quantum computation."
Superconducting quantum bits: December 2004 article from Physics World, by Hans Mooij. "Superconducting devices can be used to explore the boundaries between the quantum and classical worlds, and could also have applications in quantum information."
Quantum computing with solids: August 2002 article from Physics World, by Robert W. Keyes. "Science and technology could be revolutionized by quantum computers, but building them from solid-state devices will not be easy."
Patents, patience and quantum ideas: May 1999 article from Physics World, by Paul Guinnessy. "Will the patents taken out on quantum computers expire before such computers are ever built?" Contains a useful summary of important inventions involving quantum information and computing.
Quantum solitons: February 1999 article from Physics World, by Izo Abram. "Two of the most remarkable properties of light - squeezing and solitons - are being combined in a new generation of experiments that could revolutionize optics and communications."
Quantum engineering moves on: January 1999 article from Physics World, by Ignacio Cirac. "One of the most intriguing features of quantum mechanics is the existence of entangled states. ... The generation and manipulation of entangled states is fundamental to studies of the most basic aspects of quantum mechanics, and provides the basis of applications such as quantum computing, quantum communications and high-precision spectroscopy."
Quantum information: March 1998 article from Physics World, by Peter Rodgers. "There is more to information than a string of ones and zeroes - the ability of "quantum bits" to be in two states at the same time could revolutionize information technology."
Fundamentals of quantum information: March 1998 article from Physics World, by Anton Zeilinger. "The fact that information is physical means that the laws of quantum mechanics can be used to process and transmit it in ways that are not possible with existing systems."
Single-photon field trials secure peak performance: November 2002 article from Opto & Laser Europe. Describes progress in quantum cryptography for secure communications.
QCL - A Programming Language for Quantum Computers: A research paper by Bernhard Ömer.
Beam Me Up: Transcript of an Australian TV program in which quantum teleportation researchers were interviewed.
Playing stop and go with light: January 2001 news article from Physics Web. "Two teams of physicists in the US have managed to capture pulses of light in a gas, and then release the pulses a fraction of a second later. This feat - which involves reducing the speed of light in the gas to zero - could be used to store information and may also have applications in quantum information processing."
Quantum theory beats diffraction limit: September 2000 news article from Physics Web about using entangled photons to enhance optical lithography of semiconductor chips.
Quantum leap for entanglement: March 2000 news article from Physics Web about entangling four particles for the first time.
New phase for quantum computers: February 2000 news article from Physics World, about the nuclear magnetic resonance approach to quantum computing and geometric phase.
Measuring decoherence in real time: January 2000 news article from Physics Web about measuring the transition of a system from quantum to classical behavior.
Macroscopic spin moves: January 1999 news article from Physics World, about a new technique that can transport quantum particles over a distance of 0.1 mm.
Quantum teleportation goes beyond two states: October 1998 article from Physics Web about quantum teleportation of a beam of light.
Quantum Quest: An End to Errors: January 2001 Wired News article on quantum information technology.
Quantum Physics Meets the Qubit: January 2001 Wired News article on quantum information technology.
Quantum Leap in Computing: March 23, 2000 article from Wired.
Quantum Teleportation: Brief report of a recent result showing that the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen effect can in principle be used for a sort of "teleportation".
Quantum Teleportation: More detailed explanation of recent experiments demonstrating "quantum teleportation".
Quantum Entanglement Benefits Exist after Links Are Broken: Brief January 2009 Scientific American article, subtitled "A way for quantum benefits to survive after entanglement ends."
What Visions in the Dark of Light: September 2007 Scientific American Insights article, subtitled "Lene Vestergaard Hau made headlines by slowing light to below highway speed. Now the ringmaster of light can stop it, extinguish it and revive it - and thereby give quantum information a new look."
The Gedanken Experimenter: August 2007 Scientific American Insights article, subtitled "In putting teleportation, entanglement and other quantum oddities to the test, physicist Anton Zeilinger hopes to find out just how unreal quantum reality can get."
Ion Power: March 2006 Scientific American In Focus article, subtitled "Atomic ions prove their quantum versatility."
Quantum Bug: October 2005 Scientific Amerian In Focus article, subtitled "Qubits might spontaneously decay in seconds."
Qubit Twist: April 2005 short article in Scientific American, subtitled "Bending nanotubes as mechanical quantum bits."
Coherent Computing: August 2002 Scientific American News Scan article, subtitled "Making qubit superpositions in superconductors last longer."
Trillions Entwined: December 2001 Scientific American News Scan article, subtitled "Clouds of Atoms Are Linked By A Weird Quantum Yoke."
Foolproof Quantum Cryptography: December 2000 Scientific American news article about using polarized light as qubits.
Qubit Chip: August 1999 news article from Scientific American, subtitled "A superconducting chip suggests a practical path to medium-scale quantum computing."
Beam Me Up: December 1997 Scientific American In Focus article, subtitled "An experiment confirms that teleportation is possible--at least for photons."
Subatomic Logic: September 1996 Scientific American In Focus article, subtitled "Researchers nudge closer to the goal of quantum computing."
Computation Takes a Quantum Leap: August 2000 news article from Science News, about use of a molecule in a computational process.
Atom microchips get off the ground: June 2000 Science News news article about microcircuits based on atom flows.
Quantum quirks quicken thorny searches: June 2000 news article from Science News, about a quantum computer algorithm for database searching.
Quantum games: November 1999 Science News article about game theory and quantum algorithms.
Quantum leap: April 1998 New Scientist news article. "The era of quantum computing has begun in earnest, scientists say. For the first time, they have made a quantum computer that can carry out a task in a way that is impossible with supercomputers."
Achieving quantum teleportation in the laboratory: January 1998 news article in Science News about laboratory teleportation of photons.
Quantum-Quick Queries: August 1996 news article in Science News, about using quantum computation to speed up database searches.

Recommended references: Technical surveys and reviews

These are usually very technical papers at Arxiv.org which provide explicit mathematical details of the topic area.

Quantum Computing: Author: Andrew Steane. Date: September 24, 1997.
Quantum Computation: Author: Dorit Aharonov. Date: December 15, 1998.
Theory of quantum computation: Authors: E. H. Knill, M. A. Nielsen. Date: October 17, 2000.
Notes: Short, simple introductory paper.
Introduction to quantum information theory: Author: M. A. Nielsen. Date: November 15, 2000.
Notes: Short, simple introductory paper.

Recommended references: Magazine/journal articles

Welcome to the quantum internet
Davide Castelvecchi
Science News, August 16, 2008
Decoding the quantum mystery
Tom Siegfried
Science News, August 2, 2008
Quantum Computing with Ions
Christopher R. Monroe; David J. Wineland
Scientific American, August 2008
Quantum cocoon
Davide Castelvecchi
Science News, April 5, 2008
The Limits of Quantum Computers
Scott Aaronson
Scientific American, March 2008
The Diamond Age of Spintronics
David D. Awschalom; Ryan Epstein; Ronald Hanson
Scientific American, October 2007
Computing with Quantum Knots
Graham P. Collins
Scientific American, March 2006
Best-Kept Secrets
Gary Stix
Scientific American, January 2005
Knotty Calculations
Erica Klarreich
Science News, February 22, 2003, pp. 124-126: Nature can be thought of as a computer which can solve enormously complicated equations, such as those governing the motions of all planets and asteroids in the solar system. Certain kinds of systems known as "fractional quantum Hall fluids" may be able to solve equations in the mathematical theory of braids, which could make possible the computation of the knot invariants known as "Jones polynomials", and consequently be able to solve manhy other hard problems as well.
Rules for a Complex Quantum World
Michael A. Nielsen
Scientific American, November 2002: There is a sidebar: Disentangling Entanglement
Liquid Logic
Mark K. Anderson
Wired, September 2001, pp. 152-157: Many approaches to quantum computing have been envisioned. One plausible scheme uses electrons floating on superfluid helium.
From Quantum Cheating to Quantum Security
Daniel Gottesman; Hoi-Kwong Lo
Physics Today, November 2000, pp. 22-27: Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) provides an example of how quantum mechanics may be used to implement a significant algorithm. There are important implications for practical cryptography.
Quantum Computing
M. Mitchell Waldrop
Technology Review, May-June 2000, pp. 60-66: Two recent developments, one theoretical and one practical, have raised the prospects for quantum computing. The theoretical advance is a factoring algorithm for quantum computers. The practical advance involves control of nuclear spins by means of nuclear magnetic resonance technology.
Quantum Teleportation
Anton Zielinger
Scientific American, April 2000, pp. 50-59: "Teleportation" or "action at a distance" has been demonstrated for light quanta. Although teleportation of matter on a large scale remains highly unlikely, consideration of the underlying mechanism has helped clarify quantum theory.
Physicists Triumph at Guess My Number
Andrew M. Steane; Wim van Dam
Physics Today, February 2000, pp. 35-39: A game show metaphor is used to illustrate how concepts of quantum entanglement and information theory may contribute to quantum computation.
Quantum Computing
Lov K. Grover
The Sciences, July/August 1999, pp. 24-30: The principles of quantum mechanics make it possible to envision "computations" performed in parallel much faster and in radically different ways than used by exiting computers. But how to actually implement quantum computing remains largely unknown.
Battling Decoherence: The Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computer
John Preskill
Physics Today, June 1999, pp. 24-30: The idea of quantum computers is to manipulate quantum states rather than classical bits. Success in this depends on preserving "coherent" quantum states. Recent discoveries indicate the way to do that.
The Great Quantum Number Cruncher
David H. Freedman
Discover, January 1999, pp. 90-96: The concept of quantum computing is still speculative. If it is possible at all, the underlying principles will be significantly different from those of traditional computers.
Quantum Computing with Molecules
Neil Gershenfeld, Isaac L. Chuang
Scientific American, June 1998, pp. 66-71: The quantum effects of nuclear magnetic resonance may enable constructions of computers based on molecules of ordinary liquids.
Quantum Computing: Dream or Nightmare?
Serge Haroche, Jean-Michel Raimond
Physics Today, August 1996, pp. 51-52: Although recent theories of quantum computing have helped clarify the boundary between classical and quantum worlds, they raise questions about the feasibility of practical quantum computing.
Quantum Information and Computation
Charles H. Bennett
Physics Today, October 1995, pp. 24-30: "Quantum teleportation" using Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations between two "entangled" particles entail information transfer which can be exploited for computation. Algorithms have been discovered which permit solution of certain problems much more rapidly than classical algorithms.
Quantum-Mechanical Computers
Seth Lloyd
Scientific American, October 1995, pp. 140-145: Various techniques can be imagined to make logic gates that operate on quantum mechanical principles. Computers based on such elements would have capabilities impossible in current computers.

Recommended references: Books

Charles Seife – Decoding the Universe: How the New Science of Information Is Explaining Everything in the Cosmos, from Our Brains to Black Holes
Viking, 2006: Seife's book is written for a general audience, and risks the usual shortcomings of its kind – too much hype and gee-whiz, too little technical detail. Contrary to the book's subtitle, the "science of information" doesn't "explain everything", but it is still very useful and interesting. Much of the application of information theory to physics is speculative, but possibly very important – especially with regard to black holes and quantum information, as discussed in the book's later chapters.
George Johnson -- A Shortcut Through Time: The Path to the Quantum Computer
Alfred A. Knopf, 2003: Johnson, a veteran science journalist, offers an excellent introduction to quantim information and computation for general readers. Without delving into the technical or mathematical details of the subject, the author nevertheless manages to give, in a short book, an idea of how quantum computers might work, some of the theoretical accomplishments already achieved (e. g. Shor's algorithm), and examples of problems that quantum computers might work on.
[Book review] [Book review]
Colin P. Williams, Scott H. Clearwater -- Ultimate Zero and One: Computing at the Quantum Frontier
Copernicus Books, 2000: The authors offer a good introcudtion to quantum computing and information for nontechnical readers. But the book has plenty of detail and describes a lot of relevant physics and technique. Topics include "teleportation", detecting eavesdropping in quantum communication, algorithms, and cryptographic techniques. Different possible implementations of quantum computers are considered.
Julian Brown -- Minds, Machines, and the Multiverse: The Quest for the Quantum Computer
Simon & Schuster, 1999: In addition to prividing good explanations of the basic ideas of quantum information and computing, Brown offers a wide-ranging presentation of fashionable and speculative topics in quantum theory, such as the "many worlds" interpretation and the question of whether quantum mechanics has anything to do with consciousness.
Hoi-Kwong Lo, Sandu Popescu, Tim Spiller (eds.) -- Introduction to Quantum Computation and Information
World Scientific, 1998: The book consists of 11 chapters by separate authors and provides an introduction to the theory of quantum information, and its applications: computation, teleportation, and cryptography. Some exposure to the ideas and mathematics of quantum mechanics is required. Basic ideas of quantum information and entanglement are presented, as well as more advanced topics like quantum error correction and fault-tolerant quantum computing.
Gennady P. Berman; Gary D. Doolen; Ronnie Mainieri; Vladimir I. Tsifrinovich -- Introduction to Quantum Computers
World Scientific, 1998: The authors offer a no-nonsense introduction to quantum computing, suitable for readers having some exposure to quantum mechanics. Topics include explanations of quantum computer algorithms for discrete Fourier transforms and factorization of integers, and details on the implementation of logic gates.
Gerard J. Milburn -- The Feynman Processor: Quantum Entanglement and the Computing Revolution
Perseus Books, 1998: The author, a theoretical physicist, is actively engaged in research and possible development of quantum computers. His book first explains the basic ideas of quantum theory, "quantum entanglement", and "quantum teleportation". He then sketches out how computing devices using these principles might be constructed.

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