Chapter 4: Physical Realization of a Quantum Computer

For many years, quantum computing has only been a theoretical area of research because the principles of quantum mechanics were very difficult to create in a physical lab environment. We know that theoretical studies alone are not enough until and unless we make it practical and apply those techniques in our daily lives. With the advancement of technology and physics devices of course, quantum computers came to be physically realizable. The challenges of quantum programming that we discussed in the previous chapter are related to physical quantum computers because, ultimately, the code is going to run on the hardware, and the problems in quantum programming arise also due to the challenges currently present in physical quantum computers today.

In this chapter, we will see the physical realization of quantum computers using various techniques based on quantum physics. The devices that we will discuss here work on the principles...