The Physical Implementation of Quantum Computation

After a brief introduction to the principles and promise of quantum information processing, the requirements for the physical implementation of quantum computation are discussed. These five requirements, plus two relating to the communication of quantum information, are extensively ex- plored and related to the many schemes in atomic physics, quantum optics, nuclear and electron magnetic resonance spectroscopy, superconducting electronics, and quantum-dot physics, for achiev- ing quantum computing. I. INTRODUCTION � The advent of quantum information processing, as an abstract concept, has given birth to a great deal of new thinking, of a very concrete form, about how to create physical computing devices that operate in the hitherto unexplored quantum mechanical regime. The efforts now underway to produce working laboratory devices that perform this profoundly new form of information pro- cessing are the subject of this book. In this chapter I provide an overview of the common objectives of the investigations reported in the remain- der of this special issue. The scope of the approaches, proposed and underway, to the implementation of quan- tum hardware is remarkable, emerging from specialties in atomic physics (1), in quantum optics (2), in nuclear (3) and electron (4) magnetic resonance spectroscopy, in su- perconducting device physics (5), in electron physics (6), and in mesoscopic and quantum dot research (7). This amazing variety of approaches has arisen because, as we will see, the principles of quantum computing are posed using the most fundamental ideas of quantum mechanics, ones whose embodiment can be contemplated in virtually every branch of quantum physics. The interdisciplinary spirit which has been fostered as a result is one of the most pleasant and remarkable fea- tures of this field. The excitement and freshness that has been produced bodes well for the prospect for discovery, invention, and innovation in this endeavor.