Dave Bacon asks, I answer. Well, OK, Dave was asking how one would go about teaching quantum computing to CS undergrads, while what I provide here is a set of lectures on presenting quantum computing ideas to undergrad physics majors in my Quantum Optics class. But, really, isn't that almost the same thing (don't answer that).
The notes:
- Lecture 17: Computing theory, logic gates, quantum gates, entangling operations.
- Lecture 18: Quantum algorithms, the Deutsch-Josza algorithm.
- Lecture 19: Physical implementations of quantum computing, the DiVincenzo Criteria.
This more or less concludes the lectures for the class-- the final two weeks will be devoted to in-class oral presentations about student research projects. There's one more lecture, a not-entirely-successful class on density matrices and decoherence, that I'll post when I get someone to scan it in for me.
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Cool! Did the students take to the material well?
Reviews were mixed. Some really liked it, but some others have expressed a deep dislike of "The stuff with the ones and zeroes."
It probably deserves more than three lectures, but I'm stuck with our current tight schedule...
I'm a writer/futurist specializing in quantum computing---the cheap, fast, generic version. Snobbish government-funded labs think that quantum computers cost billions, take decades for PhDs to develop, are too complex for ordinary people and won't be ready for five or ten years---not so! The truth is that Quantum computing is ideal for peer-to-peer volunteers to compete nose-to-nose with
Big Science Establishment and teach them some humiliy.
The race is on for the 100,000,000-qubit computer. Scrap the 64-bit Pentium chip---its a pop-gun in comparison. If you want a massive, world-class project completed in a fraction of the time, done right and under budget, get creative P2P volunteers excited about revolutionizing Internet, fast-forward broadband and make science affordable. Also, forget grid computing--it's too clumsy and slow. Try a hyperfractal shortcut through the grid and eliminate the Pentium's bottlenecks---NO transistors, NO clocks. On hyperfractal architecture quantum computing is faster, simpler, easier, cleaner and a lot more efficient---by an order of powers! P2P problem-solvers can use the hyperfractal to challenge BigScience's "unknowables'. 1. Find the Unified Field Theory. It's the pair-to-pair interface between a field of photons and a field of electrons---right down the center. The word "entanglement" is imprecise and misleading. 2. Find the answer to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. On the hyperfractal an overview of a photonic field attracted to an electronic field---nature's way of self-organizing biological matter. The observer sees, but does not alter the pair-to-pair electromagnetic bond---field-to-field relationships. This is just for starters---trust your P2P enthusiasts to be quantum computing at mindspeed while the government-funded labs are still stuck in 64-bit institutional inertia.
Carla Hein