Katia Riddle

You might try different combinations of lights on, off, and in different rooms until you get it just right.

But quantum computers obey different rules.

Quantum computers think in shades of gray.

So instead of checking every combination of lights one by one like a classical computer...

A quantum computer can represent all those combinations at once as probabilities.

So say you have 20 light switches.

Some are on and some are off.

That's like a classical computer.

In a quantum computer, you would instead have 20 light switches with dimmers, all set to varying degrees of brightness.

Now, this does not mean that quantum computers instantly solve everything.

But that potential parallelism in problem solving is why people are so excited.

No, that's going to be a long time until that happens.

Right now, they're huge, like the size of a refrigerator.

Secondly, they are cold, colder than some places in space.

Inside of them is equipment like microwave wires, shielding layers, filters.

And then at the very bottom is this quantum processor, which carries signals down to the quantum chip.

Yes, exactly.

It's like a giant onion with a tiny one to two centimeter chip at the very heart of it.

That's all.

Yes.