ScienceVerseLearning path: Quantum Computing
The concepts to learn before Quantum Computing, in order. Each step links to its page and, where one exists, its quiz.
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Your path
- CPUDirect prerequisite
The central processing unit (CPU) is the part of a computer that carries out a program's instructions. It repeatedly fetches an instruction from memory, decodes it, executes it and stores the result, all kept in step by a clock ticking billions of times a second. Its instruction set architecture is the contract that lets the same software run on different processor designs.
- SemiconductorsDirect prerequisite
Semiconductors such as silicon conduct electricity better than insulators but far less than metals, because only a small energy gap separates their filled and empty electron bands. Adding tiny amounts of impurity (doping) creates n-type material, rich in electrons, or p-type material, rich in holes. Joining the two makes diodes and transistors — the switches and amplifiers from which every computer chip is built.
- Quantum ComputingYour goal
Quantum computers process information with qubits, which can be in superpositions of 0 and 1 and can be entangled, so n qubits can hold a superposition of 2ⁿ combinations. That does not mean they try every answer at once: a measurement reveals only a little information, so useful quantum algorithms — such as Shor's 1994 factoring algorithm — must be cleverly designed. Today's machines have hundreds of error-prone qubits; large, error-corrected quantum computers remain a goal, not a reality.