Introduction to Quantum Computation

Dr. Tanay Ghosh

Assistant Professor
Department of AIML
Sanjivani University
Kopargaon, MH, India

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 1 / 20

Organisation

1 Moore’s Law

2 Comparison between Classical and Quantum Computing

3 Concept of qubit and its properties

4 Superposition of two states

5 Bloch sphere

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 2 / 20

Introduction
Quantum computing is a rapidly-emerging field focused on the
development of computer technologies centred on the principles of
Quantum Physics. Quantum Physics explains the nature and behaviour of
energy and matter on the quantum (atomic and subatomic) scale.
Elementary particles such as protons, neutrons and electrons can exist in
two or more states at a time. This fundamental behaviour is utilized in
designing the quantum computation processing units and in fact it is more
efficient than classical computation
Quantum computing uses a combination of bits to perform specific
computational tasks with greater efficiency than their classical
counterparts. Even though quantum computers are not going to replace
classical computers, quantum technology is significantly changing the way
the world operates. The quantum computer gains much of its processing
power through the ability for bits to be in multiple states simultaneously.
They can perform tasks using a combination of 1’s, 0’s and both 1 and 0 at
a time.
Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 3 / 20
Essential Elements of Quantum Theory

In 1981, Paul Benioff at Argonne National Labs came up with the idea of a
computer that operates with quantum mechanical principles. In 1984,
David Deutsch of Oxford University provided the critical idea behind
quantum computing research and the possibility of designing a computer
that is based exclusively on quantum rules.
The Essential Elements of Quantum Theory
1 Energy values are discrete units.
2 Elementary particles may behave like particles or waves.
3 The movement of elementary particles is inherently random and,
thus, unpredictable.
4 The simultaneous measurement of two complementary values - such
as the position and momentum of a particle - is imperfect. The more
precisely one value is measured, the more flawed the measurement
of the other value will be.

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 4 / 20

 Moore’s Law

Moore’s law & its end

In 1965, Gordon E. Moore—co-founder of Intel—postulated that “the

number of transistors that can be packed into a given unit of space will
double about every eighteen months”. This is also known as Moore’s Law
Gordon Moore did not call his observation as ”Moore’s Law,” nor did he set
out to create a ”law”. Moore made this statement based on noticing
emerging trends in chip manufacturing at the semiconductor industry.
Eventually, Moore’s insight became a prediction, which in turn became the
golden rule known as Moore’s Law.
Moore’s Law implies that computers, machines that run on computers, and
computing power all become smaller, faster, and cheaper with time, as
transistors on integrated circuits become more efficient.

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 5 / 20

 Moore’s Law

Moore’s Law

Figure: Graphic representation for microprocessors

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 6 / 20

 Moore’s Law

End of Moore’s Law

The electronic industry for computers grows hand-in-hand with the
decrease in size of the integrated circuits. This miniaturization is
necessary to increase computational power, that is, the number of
floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) a computer can perform. In
1950’s, electronic computers were capable of performing approximately
103 FLOPS while present supercomputers have a power greater than 1013
FLOPS. According to Moore’s law, the number of transistors that may be
placed on a single integrated circuit chip doubles approximately every 18 –
24 months. The present limit is approximately 108 transistors per chip and
the typical size of circuit components is of the order of 100 nano meters.
That means, we have reached the atomic size for storing a single bit of
information and quantum effects have become unavoidably dominant.

Taking all these factors into consideration, it is necessary to look for

alternative ways of computing outside of the electrons and silicon
transistors. One such alternative is quantum computing.
Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 7 / 20
 Comparison between Classical and Quantum Computing

Classical VS Quantum

Quantum computers are based on quantum bits (qubits) and use quantum
effects like superposition and entanglement to their benefit, hence
overcoming the miniaturization problems of classical computing.
Classical computing relies on principles of Boolean algebra. Data must be
processed in an exclusive binary state at any point in time; either 0 (off /
false) or 1 (on / true). The millions of transistors and capacitors at the heart
of computers can only be in one state at any point. In addition, there is still
a limit as to how quickly these devices can be made to switch states. As
we progress to smaller and faster circuits, we begin to reach the physical
limits of materials and the limitations for classical laws of physics to apply.

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 8 / 20

 Comparison between Classical and Quantum Computing

The quantum computer operates with a two-mode logic gate. In a

quantum computer, a number of elemental particles such as electrons or
photons can be used. Each particle is given a charge or polarization,
acting as a representation of 0 and/or 1. Each particle is called a quantum
bit, or qubit. The nature and behaviour of these particles form the basis of
quantum computing. The two most relevant aspects of quantum physics
are the principles of superposition and entanglement.

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 9 / 20

 Comparison between Classical and Quantum Computing

Differences between classical and quantum computing

Comparison key Classical computer Quantum computer

Basis of computing Large scale multipurpose computer based on High speed computer based on quantum me-
classical physics chanics
Information storage Bit-based information storage using volt- Quantum bit-based information storage using
age/charge electron spin or polarization
Bit values Bits having a value of either 0 or 1 can have a Qubits have a value of 0, 1 or sometimes lin-
single value at any instant ear combination of both, (a property known as
superposition)
Number of possible The number of possible states is 2 which is The number of possible states is infinite since
states either 0 or 1 it can hold combinations of 0 or 1 along with
some complex information
Output Deterministic (repetition of computation on Probabilistic (repetition of computation on su-
the same input gives the same output) perposed states gives probabilistic answer)
Gates used for pro- Logic gates (AND, OR, NOT, etc.) Quantum gates (X, Y, Z, H, CNOT etc.)
cessing
Operations Operations use Boolean Algebra Operations use linear algebra and are repre-
sented with unitary matrices
Circuit implementation Circuit implemented in macroscopic technolo- Circuits implemented in microscopic tech-
gies (e.g. CMOS) that are fast and scalable nologies (e.g. nuclear magnetic resonance)
that are slow and delicate

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 10 / 20

 Concept of qubit and its properties

Concept of qubit and its properties

Bit: A digital computer stores and processes information using bits, which
can be either 0 or 1. Physically, a bit can be anything that has two distinct
configurations: one represented by “0”, and the other represented by “1”. It
could be a light bulb that is on or off, a coin that is heads or tails, or any
other system with two distinct and distinguishable possibilities. In modern
computing and communications, bits are represented by the absence or
presence of an electrical signal, encoding “0” and “1” respectively
Qubit is the physical carrier of quantum information. It is the quantum
version of a bit, and its quantum state can be written in terms of two levels,
labelled |0⟩ and |1⟩. |⟩ this notation is known as ‘ket’ notation and ⟨| is
known as ‘bra’ notation. Both are together called as Dirac notations ‘ket’ is
analogous to a column vector.

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 11 / 20

 Concept of qubit and its properties

They are also called basis vectors and represented by two-dimensional

column"vectors
# as follows
1 h i
|0⟩ = ⟨0| = 1 0
"0#
0 h i
|1⟩ = ⟨1| = 0 1
1

The qubit can be in any one of the two states as well as in the superposed
state simultaneously.
In quantum computation two distinguishable states of a system are
needed to represent a bit of data. For example, two states of an electron
orbiting a single atom is shown in the following figure. Spin up is taken as
|1⟩ and spin down is taken as |0⟩. Similarly ground state energy level is |0⟩
and excited state level is |1⟩

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 12 / 20

 Concept of qubit and its properties

This is the abstract notion of a qubit. The quantum computers actually use
a physical type of qubit called a superconducting qubit is made from
superconducting materials (of course, there are other approaches also to
build the qubits)

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 13 / 20

 Superposition of two states

Superposition of two states

The difference between qubits and classical bits is that a qubit can be in a
linear combination (superposition) of the two states |0⟩ and |1⟩. For ex, if α
and β are the probability amplitudes of electron in ground state (ie, in |0⟩
state) and in excited state (ie, in |1⟩ state) then the linear combination of
two states is
|Ψ⟩ = α |0⟩ + β |1⟩
The numbers α and β are complex but due to normalization conditions.

| α |2 + | β |2 = 1

Here | α |2 is the probability of finding |Ψ⟩ in state |0⟩ and | β |2 is the

probability of finding |Ψ⟩ in state |1⟩.So, we have to keep in mind that when
a qubit is measured, it only gives either ‘0’ or ‘1’ as the measurement
result – probabilistically.

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 14 / 20

 Superposition of two states

..

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 15 / 20

 Superposition of two states

Properties of qubits
1 Qubits make use of discrete energy state particles such as electrons
and photons
2 Qubits exists in two quantum state |0⟩ and |1⟩ or in a linear
combination of both states. This is known as superposition. This
property allows for exponentially many logical states at once (and no
classical computer can achieve it)
3 Unlike classical bits, qubit can work with the overlap of both 0 and 1
states. For ex, a 4-bit register1 can store one number from 0 to 15
(because of 2n = 24=16), but 4-qubit register can store all 16 numbers
4 When the qubit is measured, it collapses to one of the two basis
states |0⟩ or |1⟩
5 Quantum entanglement and quantum tunnelling are two exclusive
properties of qubit
6 State of the qubits is represented using Bloch sphere
After studying the physics of qubits it is now time to look at the
mathematics of qubits.
Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 16 / 20
 Bloch sphere

Bloch sphere

Bloch sphere is an imaginary sphere which is used to represent pure

single-qubit states as a point on its surface. It has unit radius. Its North
Pole and South Pole are selected to represent the basis states namely |0⟩
and |1⟩. North Pole represents |0⟩ (say spin up ↑) and South Pole
represents |1⟩ (say spin down ↓). All other points on the sphere represent
superposed states (ie, state space). Bloch sphere allows the state of a
qubit to be represented in spherical coordinates (ie, r, θ and ϕ). It is as
follows.The state qubit |Ψ⟩ on the Bloch sphere makes an angle θ with
z-axis and its projection (azimuth) makes angle ϕ with x-axis as shown. It
is clear from the fig that 0 <θ <π and 0 <ϕ <2π. |ψ⟩ is represented as:

θ θ
|ψ⟩ = cos |0⟩ + e i ϕ sin |1⟩
2 2

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 17 / 20

 Bloch sphere

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 18 / 20

 Bloch sphere

..

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 19 / 20

 Bloch sphere

Thank You

Dr. Tanay Ghosh (SU) Sanjivani University, Kopargaon 20 / 20