Background

There are a few important events in the history of quantum computer I am going to focus on. According to Schiller (2009), Feynman, a physicist, in 1981 "proposed the basic model for a quantum computer that would be capable of ['simulating an evolution of a quantum system']," initiating the research and development of a quantum computer (p. 28). A few years later, in 1985 Deutsch "described the first universal quantum computer" (Schiller, 2009, p. 28). According to an article about timeline of quantum computing, in 1994, Peter Shor discovered an algorithm that "allowed a quantum computer to factor large integers quickly" and solve factoring and log problems (Wikipedia, 2011). To correct the quantum errors, Shor and Steane in 1995 proposed a device called "decoherence-free subspaces," (Wikipedia, 2011) which addressed the important security concerns of this developing technology. In the 1990s, the scientists and government became increasingly interested in the research and development of quantum computers (Shiller, 2009, p. 30). According to Shiller (2009), in 1998 the first working 2 and 3 qubit NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) quantum computers were created by scientists from Oxford, Stanford Universities and MIT (p. 30-31). In the subsequent years, the groups of scientists spent time perfecting the existing NMR computers and making them more efficient by adding additional qubits, creating a qubyte (8 qubits), and studying the properties of electrons, photons and other subatomic particles and how they can be used in the further development of quantum computers (Wikipedia, 2011). As we see, the developments in quantum computing and computers went a great length from 1980s (first proposals) to 2000s (first NMR quantum computers). Although scientists created the first NMR quantum computers, these cannot be used the same way we use silicon- based computers and it will take a lot of research and experiments to create a real quantum computer that can be used in the future (Bronsor and Strickland, 2011).