NIST physicists used this apparatus to coax two beryllium ions (electrically charged atoms) into swapping the smallest measurable units of energy back and forth, a technique that may simplify information processing in a quantum computer. The ions are trapped about 40 micrometers apart above the square gold chip in the center. The chip is surrounded by a copper enclosure and gold wire mesh to prevent buildup of static charge.
NIST physicists used this apparatus to coax two beryllium ions (electrically charged atoms) into swapping the smallest measurable units of energy back and forth, a technique that may simplify information processing in a quantum computer. The ions are trapped about 40 micrometers apart above the square gold chip in the center. The chip is surrounded by a copper enclosure and gold wire mesh to prevent buildup of static charge.

Quantum Computing Corral: StarTalk Live! With Michio Kaku

National Institute of Standards and Technology, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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About This Episode

Could quantum computing solve the three-body problem? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedians Jordan Klepper and Tiffany Haddish discuss how quantum computing will change the world with theoretical physicist Michio Kaku live at the Beacon Theater.

What is quantum physics? We learn how quantum computing differs from traditional transistor computing. What is a qubit? What does quantum computing have to do with the many worlds hypothesis? We talk about how Mother Nature is a quantum computer and how quantum computers compute in the multiverse.

What does a quantum computer look like? We break down Schrodinger’s Cat, the superposition of states, and how information travels faster than light between entangled particles. What sort of programming language would a quantum computer use? Find out what will go obsolete after quantum computers and what mysteries we could resolve.

Could quantum computing change experimental science as we know it? Explore how quantum computing will help us discover what happened before the Big Bang and how to achieve a wormhole using negative energy. How would quantum computing escalate AI? We discuss where humanity is on the Kardashev Scale and utilizing the power of atoms. All that, plus, what is beyond the quantum computing revolution?

Thanks to our Patrons PaceOfSpades, Dale Engele, Amr Badawi, Elizabeth Rosalen, Dennis Kutzen, Martin Kjær Jørgensen, Poop Poop, William Jefferson, John Bigelow, and Patrick Scheidegger for supporting us this week.

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