Quantum information and computation

Bennett, Charles H.
DiVincenzo, David P.

IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598, USA

Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to C.H.B.

Nature 404(6775):p 247-255, March 16, 2000.

In information processing, as in physics, our classical world view provides an incomplete approximation to an underlying quantum reality. Quantum effects like interference and entanglement play no direct role in conventional information processing, but they can-in principle now, but probably eventually in practice-be harnessed to break codes, create unbreakable codes, and speed up otherwise intractable computations.