中国量子计算获重大突破
Chinese scientists have built the world's first quantum computing machine that goes far beyond the early classical -- or conventional -- computers, paving the way to the ultimate realization of quantum computing.
中国科学家制造出世界首台可以远超早期经典或传统计算机的量子计算机，为量子计算的最终实现铺平了道路。
Scientists announced their achievement at a press conference in the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies of University of Science and Technology of China on Wednesday.
Scientists believe quantum computing could in some ways dwarf the processing power of today's supercomputers. One analogy to explain the concept of quantum computing is that it is like being able to read all the books in a library at the same time, whereas conventional computing is like having to read them one after another.
Pan Jianwei, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a leading quantum physicist, said quantum computing exploits the fundamental quantum superposition principle to enable ultra-fast parallel calculation and simulation capabilities.
In normal silicon computer chips, data is rendered in one of two states: 0 or 1. However, in quantum computers, data could exist in both states simultaneously, holding exponentially more information.
The computing power of a quantum computer grows exponentially with the number of quantum bits that can be manipulated. This could effectively solve large-scale computation problems that are beyond the ability of current classical computers, Pan said.