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Qudits: The Real Future of Quantum Computing?

spectrum.ieee.org

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Re: Qudits: The Real Future of Quantum Computing?

#31

Post by adamnemecek »

rdtsc wrote: post #26
adamnemecek wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't tell if you are joking or not. You don't actually think there's 1B spaghetti right?

Not actual pasta, no but there would have to be an analog equivalent. How do you see a practical implementation of this working that still preserves the O(n) property

There's several way of achieving computation in this scheme. I'm not quite settled on which of these is the best. But why do you think that this property would be translated when going from electric to photonic?

Re: Qudits: The Real Future of Quantum Computing?

#32

Post by orph4nus »

adamnemecek wrote: post #30
babyrainbow wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it yet possible to build the basic logic gates, using light only?

You don't want logic gates.

What do you want than? Is there some lecture on this that would explain the architecture of such a computer?

Re: Qudits: The Real Future of Quantum Computing?

#33

Post by adamnemecek »

orph4nus wrote: post #32
adamnemecek wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't want logic gates.

What do you want than? Is there some lecture on this that would explain the architecture of such a computer?

I want continuous functions and signals. Not aware of lectures but search for analog computation on Amazon or google.

There's this class https://www.utdallas.edu/atec/docs/virtual-analog-computing.... but the resources aren't online.

Re: Qudits: The Real Future of Quantum Computing?

#34

Post by Houshalter »

adamnemecek wrote: post #4

You don't actually want qubits, you want an analog computer with differentiable signals. Most likely photonic. Qubits are a dead evolution branch. I've been recently exploring computational metamaterials for photonic computation. http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~aalu/research%20-%20page%203.ht... (there's quite a few papers on this but unfortunately they are all paywalled. Spoiler alert, they seem to be based entirely on…

I'm extremely skeptical of this. Analog on such small scales is overwhelmed by noise and very low precision. Analog computations aren't magic either, they still take energy and produce waste heat. You are fighting the laws of thermodynamics. I certainly don't see how it beats quantum computers at the things they are good at over classical computers.

Re: Qudits: The Real Future of Quantum Computing?

#35

Post by adamnemecek »

Houshalter wrote: post #34
adamnemecek wrote: post #4

You don't actually want qubits, you want an analog computer with differentiable signals. Most likely photonic. Qubits are a dead evolution branch. I've been recently exploring computational metamaterials for photonic computation. http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~aalu/research%20-%20page%203.ht... (there's quite a few papers on this but unfortunately they are all paywalled. Spoiler alert, they seem to be based entirely on…

I'm extremely skeptical of this. Analog on such small scales is overwhelmed by noise and very low precision. Analog computations aren't magic either, they still take energy and produce waste heat. You are fighting the laws of thermodynamics. I certainly don't see how it beats quantum computers at the things they are good at over classical computers.

> I'm extremely skeptical of this.

It's ok, it took me some time to realize that the bit-copper orthodoxy need to be toppled as well.

> Analog on such small scales is overwhelmed by noise and very low precision.

But here we are making more and more photonic and optic things. Fiber optic is taking over. There quite a bit of work in silicon-photonic design (you can check this book https://smile.amazon.com/Silicon-Photonics-Design-Devices-Sy...

I mean there's noise yes, but it's actually somewhat manageable in a photonic setup.

> You are fighting the laws of thermodynamics.

Nowhere near as much as with copper. A fiber optic cable doesn't heat up.

> I certainly don't see how it beats quantum computers at the things they are good at over classical computers.

O(1) differential calculus is magic for a lot of purposes.

Re: Qudits: The Real Future of Quantum Computing?

#36

Post by babyrainbow »

adamnemecek wrote: post #33
orph4nus wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you want than? Is there some lecture on this that would explain the architecture of such a computer?

I want continuous functions and signals. Not aware of lectures but search for analog computation on Amazon or google. There's this class https://www.utdallas.edu/atec/docs/virtual-analog-computing.... but the resources aren't online.

Can please try to explain the basics?

How will such a machine to add two numbers look like?

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