(TweakTown) A recent discovery from the Faulty of Physics, University of Warsaw and University of Oxford regarding Quantum Computation discussed much faster quantum computing is than standard methods we are using today.
The Fast Fourier Transform algorithm (FFT) has been used since the 1970’s. This algorithm makes it possible to efficiently compress and transmit data, store pictures, broadcast digital TV and talk over our phones. While this algorithm is widely used, it still has limited capabilities. The answer to these limitations has now be found in the power of Quantum Mechanics with what has been called the Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT).
Mathematics describes many transforms. One of them is a Kravchuk transform. It is very similar to the FFT, as it allows processing of discrete (e.g. digital) data, but uses Kravchuk functions to decompose the input sequence into the spectrum. At the end of the 1990s, the Kravchuk transform was “rediscovered” in computer science. It turned out to be excellent for image and sound processing.
The scientists from the University of Warsaw—Dr. Magdalena Stobinska and Dr. Adam Buraczewski, scientists from the University of Oxford, and NIST, have shown that the simplest quantum gate, which interferes between two quantum states, essentially computes the Kravchuk transform. Such a gate could be a well-known optical device—a beam splitter, which divides photons between two outputs.
The result obtained by scientists from Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States will find applications in the development of new quantum technologies and quantum algorithms. Its range of uses go beyond quantum photonics, since a similar quantum interference can be observed in many different quantum systems. The University of Warsaw applied for an international patent for this innovation.