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Quantum RAM to drive computing and internet search in future

May 7th, 2008 by Kiyani ~ No Comments



Seth Lloyd, a researcher at MIT, believes that a new architecture for QRAM could be used to not only reduce the energy wasted by RAM, but also be used for completely anonymous Internet search.

In classical computing, random access memory (RAM) is needed to do things. But it is subject to a certain level of energy loss. Quantum access memory (QRAM) is the answer to that problem that would not only work in terms of quantum computing, but could also be applied to classical computing.
Lloyd explains how classical RAM works:

Lets say you have a gigabyte of RAM. That means you have one billion memory slots, each with an address. When you wan to access one, an address is given, let’s say it is about 30 bits long. The first bit will throw two switches, the next will throw four, and so on until a billion switches are thrown at once.
The conventional design is incredibly wasteful. And it is susceptible to noise and interference. We saw that this wasn’t going to work at all in terms of quantum RAM.

He continued explaining how QRAM differs from RAM:

It is a sneakier way to access RAM. In the same gigabyte RAM, we send the first bit of the address along a path. Once the first layer is accessed, the next bit comes, following the path of the first bit, until it reaches the second layer. The third bit then traces the two paths before it. In this way, all the bits of the address only interact with two switches.

Our design is based on a bucket brigade sort of design, Lloyd says. He explains that the design came about when he and his colleagues were trying to figure out how to make QRAM work based of classical RAM design. “There is just too much incoherence in classical RAM architecture. Too much for the quantum states to remain intact”.

There are problems with this set-up, however. Even though the experts at Texas Instruments agree that it would work, they point out that the energy saved using QRAM would not offset the larger energy problems associated with classical computing. Besides, Lloyd admits, the QRAM set-up is a little slower than the RAM. “You’d have to be willing to make that trade-off.”

That brings Lloyd back to the idea of quantum Internet search. “If you had a quantum Internet, then this would be useful,” he points out. “This offers a huge decrease in energy used and an increase in robustness.” The other interesting aspect is the possibility of completely anonymous Internet search. Not even your service provider would know who you are or what you search for.

According to Lloyds:

For a quantum Internet to work we need what is called dark fiber.



Categories: Computers/Internet ~ Science/Technology


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