Qutrits Bring Quantum Computers Closer

KentuckyFC writes "To do anything useful with quantum logic gates, you need dozens to hundreds of them, all joined together. And because of various errors and problems that creep in, that's more or less impossible with today's technology. Now an Australian group has built and tested logic gates that convert qubits into qutrits (three-level quantum states) before processing and then convert them back again. That makes them far more powerful. The group says that a quantum computer that might require 50 conventional quantum logic gates can now be built with just 9 of the new gates. What's more, the gates process photons using nothing more than standard linear optical components (abstract on the physics arxiv)."

Linux???

[ZenDragon]

Does it run linux?

Re:Wow

[peragrin]

Oh it's simple. The cat could be not only alive or dead, but also could be on life support.

Or maybe the cat will be spinning because someone stapled a piece of bread with jam onto the cat's back.

convert qubits into qutrits...far more powerful

[pushing-robot]

Naturally, I read that as "qutits" the first time.

Re:convert qubits into qutrits...far more powerful

[Anonymous Coward]

Qutrits, just like the chick on "Total Recall."

Re:Wow

[scubamage]

No fair, you changed the state of the cat by measuring it!

All they need to do is..

[s0litaire]

Give the computer a nice cup of hot tea. From Douglas Adams "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" "If he thought to himself, such a machine is a virtual impossibility, then it must logically be a finite improbability. So all I have to do in order to make one is to work out exactly how improbable it is, feed that into the finite improbability generator, give it a fresh cup of really hot tea...and turn it on!"

Re:convert qubits into qutrits...far more powerful

[AaxelB]

Just as the hard-wiring of binary mathematics spun the entire twentieth century about a simple yes-no axis, the invention of the three-state switch promised to revolutionize twenty-fifth century computing. After all, with three states (negative, positive, and null charges) on nanoswitches, computers could now think in terms of yes, no, and maybe, greatly humanizing their internal logic.

This would have brought many, many more female engineers into the field of computer science (hence accelerating the pace at which computers could do useful things besides transmit, compress, and enhance pornography), except that the same abbreviational logic that turned "binary digit" into "bit" turned "trinary digit" into "tit." This nomenclatural error set computing back nearly three hundred years, and two entire generations of promising computer scientists were lost trying to keep abreast of bad puns.

Courtesy of the genius at Schlock [schlockmercenary.com]

Re:Linux???

[hansraj]

Yes and No.

Re:Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

A "gate" is roughly the equivalent of a transistor. Kind of. Think of it like a lot of transistors all put together

And a transistor is kind of like a tube. (remember in the 1960s when they replaced all those tube radios with transistor radios?) So really, when it comes right down to it, the Internet IS really a bunch of tubes.

Re:Linux???

[ZenDragon]

Thats: Yes, No, and Both! All at the same time! Ahh the marvels of quantum computing!