An Optical Approach to Quantum Computing

Abstract

Any realistic approach to quantum computing must be capable of implementing a sufficiently large number of qubits to perform useful computations. It has been estimated that 10⁴ qubits may be required to implement Shor’s factoring algorithm for integers of useful size, and that this number may grow to 10 6 qubits when the redundant bits required for quantum error correction are included. Many of the quantum computer implementations currently being investigated, such as ion traps or NMR techniques, provide a reasonably straight-forward method for implementing a few qubits but are subject to fundamental limitations on the number of qubits that can be implemented [1], [2].