RICHMOND, Va. -- Quantum computers in their current state are, according to researchers, 'clunky and buggy.' But the future of the computers could be discovered right here in the Commonwealth.
The U.S. Department on Energy has enlisted Virginia Tech's Sophia Economou and her collaborators to gauge the status and identify possible application areas for the existing technology.
“Quantum computers are still not the way we envision them in their final form as robust, universal machines that can implement algorithms of practical interest,” said Economou, the Marshall T. Hahn Chair in Physics at Virginia Tech. “They're still at a very primitive stage.”
Quantum computers process information in a different way than computers that you would use today. But their differences allow the quantum machines to run, "...algorithms for certain types of computations incredibly fast," Virginia Tech explained in a release.
Economou’s joint project is part of a larger $12 million Department of Energy campaign with funding for six collaborative projects looking for answers as to, 'What are the physical limits of quantum processors,' and 'How can we use the devices to move our understanding as to when quantum computers can be used.'
“We want to know how we can put these quantum computers to work before we have these large-scale powerful machines,” Economou said. “And, in doing so, we can understand more about how we can actually achieve their full potential.”
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