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ECE 4 – QUANTUM COMPUTING such as those of atoms and subatomic

particles
History of Quantum Computing  Provides a mathematical framework for
 5th Solvay Conference understanding and predicting the
 1927 – origins of quantum computing properties and interactions of particles
take place discovering the field of like electrons, protons, and neutrons,
quantum mechanics as well as their interactions with
 Einstein and Bohr’s Famous Debate electromagnetic radiation
 Determinism – the idea that while the Young’s Double Slit Experimentation –
laws of physics can predict the possible involves the characteristics of a light,
outcomes of a quantum event, they whether if it behaves as a beam of particles
cannot predict with certainty which or a wave
specific outcome will occur I ( x )=I 1 ( x ) + I 2 ( x )
Emergence of Quantum Computing
I ( x )= √ I 12 ( x ) + I 22 ( x )
 Richard Feynman’s Vision of
Key Concepts of Quantum Mechanics
Quantum Computers
 Quantization – space, time, matter, and
 1981 – Richard Feynman delivered a
energy are made up of discrete,
lecture at the First Conference on
indivisible units, much like tiny grains or
the Physics of Computation
particles that cannot be subdivided
 “A computer operating on quantum
 Uncertainty – one cannot know both the
principles could efficiently simulate
location and momentum of a fundamental
quantum systems”
particle at the same time; the more
 David Deutsch and the Universal
closely we measure one, the more
Quantum Computer
uncertain we are about the other
 1985 – David Deustch, a British
 Coherence – a fundamental particle is
physicist, published a paper that
free of interaction or measurement, and
introduced the concept of a universal
therefore able to support superposition
quantum computer
and entanglement
 Development of Quantum Logic
Quantum computing – harnesses and
Gates
exploits the laws of quantum mechanics to
 Emergence of Quantum Computing
process information
 Quantum logic gates – building
Classical vs Quantum computing
blocks of quantum circuits
Classical Quantum
 Late 1980s and early 1990s –
researchers proposed various quantum Representati 0, 1 (bit) a|0> + b|1>
logic gates, such as the CNOT gate on of (voltage (qubit)
and Toffoli gate information level) (superpositio
Importance of Quantum Computing n of states)
 Quantum computers offer accelerated Operation Classical Superpositio
computational speeds as they gain qubits principles Boolean n,
Quantum – smallest discrete unit of any Algebra Entangleme
physical quantity; from Latin meaning “an nt,
amount” or “how much” Interference
Quantum Theory – “quantum Logic gate Non- Unitary,
mechanics”; describes the behavior of reversible reversible
matter and energy at the smallest scales, Robustness Very robust, Very
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2 2 2
immune to sensitive to  ¿ z∨¿ =(x +iy)(x−iy)= x +ixy−ixy+ y ¿
noise even noise  ¿ z∨¿ 2=√ x 2 + y 2 ¿
at 400 K operating at Entanglement – when changes to one
mK, low fault particle cause instantaneous changes to
tolerance another, and when measuring a value for
Measuremen Can copy, Non-cloning, one value tells the corresponding value for
t deterministic statistical another
Hardware Transistor Trapped Interference – when a qubit exists in a
ions, superposition of states, and its probability
Josephson amplitudes interact
Junction,  Constructive interference – when two
Topological quantum paths reinforce each other,
Insulator, increasing the probability of a specific
Photonics, outcome
Defect  Destructive interference – when two
Center, quantum paths cancel each other out,
Electron reducing or eliminating the probability of
Spin, Neutral an outcome
Atoms Quantum Parallelism – a fundamental
Information Process 1 n- May process feature of many quantum algorithms; allows
size bit state at a 2n n-bit state quantum computers to evaluate a function
time at a time f(x) for many different values of x
Qubits – basic unit of quantum computing simultaneously
 Two distinct states, 0 and 1, were
orthogonal to each other because they
cannot exist with 100% certainty at the
same time
 Probabilities of the states are represented
by their basis vectors
Superposition – “super”, meaning
“many”, and “position”, meaning
“possibilities”
 One of the fundamental operation
principles in quantum computing
 It allows performing a calculation on
multiple basis states at the same time
 A state that is a linear combination of the
states |0> and |1>, represented by |ψ>
 ¿ ψ >¿ α ∨0>+ β∨1>¿
 ¿ α ∨¿ 2+¿ β∨¿2=1 ¿ ¿
 When α and β are complex numbers,
represented by
 z=x +iy
 ¿ α ∨¿ 2=(α )(α ¿ )¿
2 ¿
 ¿ β∨¿ =( β )( β )¿
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 Measuring ancilla qubits allows
detecting and correcting errors
 Measurement collapses the wave function
 Accurate statistics often require multiple
measurements
The Observer Effect
 Measurement disturbs the qubits,
potentially introducing errors
 Measurement is destructive
 Subsequent measurement will yield the
 Differences of Quantum Parallelism
same results if the state remains
to Classical Parallelism
unchanged
 Unlike classical parallelism, where
 If the quantum system is reset, the
multiple circuits, each built to compute
outcome can vary with each
f(x), are executed simultaneously,
measurement
quantum parallelism uses a single
Hilbert Space Representation
circuit to evaluate the function for
 Hilbert space – a complex vector space
multiple values of x simultaneously.
with an inner product, providing the
This is made possible by exploiting the
mathematical framework for quantum
quantum computer's ability to exist in
mechanics
superpositions of different states,

ℂ2 (2-dimensional complex space)

 For a single qubit, the Hilbert space is
allowing it to perform computations on
many inputs at once.
Bloch Sphere
 Classical parallelism needs multiple
separate circuits or processors for
different tasks; quantum parallelism
uses a single quantum circuit that can
handle multiple tasks at once through
superposition.
 Limitations
 It is not immediately useful.
Quantum Measurement Hilbert Space vs Bloch Sphere
 A qubit can exist in a quantum Hilbert Space Bloch Sphere
superposition Abstract complex Geometric
 A wave function describes the probability vector space representation in 3D
of a qubit being in its potential states 2 complex 3 real dimensions
 Measurement forces the qubit to assume dimensions
one of its states: either 0 or 1 Theoretical Visual intuition for
 Measuring a system with multiple qubits framework for quantum state
forces the state of all measured qubits quantum mechanics evolution
 Measurements extract classical Matrix operations Rotations on the
information from quantum states Bloch spheres
 We often need to prepare and measure Supports multi-qubit Single qubits
multiple times systems
 Partial measurement is critical for error Can represent Only pure states on
correction mixed states the surface

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Decoherence – when qubits encounter  Serves as the model or as a universal
noise through interaction with excessive language for describing sophisticated
interference (e.g. vibration of strong quantum computations
magnetic field), a solid object, or a  Performing Quantum Computations
measuring object  A qubit follows the laws of quantum
 The qubit must be initialized (returned to mechanics. In a system isolated from
coherence) before it can be used again its environment, it obeys and is
for computing described by Schrodinger’s equation
No-Cloning Theorem
 A property in quantum mechanics that
states that not all quantum states can be
cloned or copied 
 Different from classical computing where  A qubit state can be described by
contents can be copied from one classical matrices. According to quantum
register or memory to another mechanics, not all matrices can
 It is possible to clone the basis states but represent a quantum state. Only
not the superposition states unitary matrices can represent states
Quantum Teleportation of qubits.
 to transmit enough information, using
only classical bits, about the quantum
state of a particle that a receiver can 
reconstruct the exact quantum state.  We can solve a quantum model using
Since the no-cloning principle of quantum linear algebra (matrix calculations)
mechanics means that a quantum state instead of solving differential
cannot be copied, the quantum state of equations.
the original particle cannot be preserved.  Quantum gates – operations
represented by unitary matrices;
these change the system state by
moving the state vector around a
sphere (Bloch’s sphere) represented
as unitary matrices


 The state information will be teleported in
no time. However, the information can
only be confirmed through two classical 
communications.
Introduction to Quantum Circuit
 Quantum circuit – a series of quantum
gates


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

 Quantum computing is just a

manipulation of vector through
operations in the vector space
 Projection – an important concept in
quantum mechanics; calculated via
inner product of the vectors

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 Dirac’s bra-ket notation  Introduction to Multi-Qubit
 Solution






Qubit Logic Gates – quantum equivalent of

 classical logic gates, but they operate on
qubits instead of classical bits



 Basis vector – describes the quantum
state of the system




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 Qubit Visualization


Introduction to Quantum Simulation

 Qiskit IBM – Qiskit framework, an open-
source software development kit for
working with quantum computers,
particularly IBM’s Quantum Processors via
the IBM Quantum Experience platform
 “Quantum Information Science Kit”
 Python-based framework developed by
IBM Research
 Enables quantum computing
programming, simulation, and
execution on real quantum devices

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 Entanglement – qubits correlate with
ECE 6 – QUBITS each other to form a single system

Historical Background of Qubits

 Theory of Quantum Computing
 1980 – Paul Benioff proposed
quantum mechanical principles in
performing computations
 1980s – Richard Feynman proposed
the idea of a quantum computer
 John Archibald Wheeler’s Concept of
“It from Bit”
 John Archibald Wheeler – an
American theoretical physicist
 Wojciech Zurek – inspired him to
begin talking about observations in
terms of information
 1989 – “How come the quantum?”;
“It from Bit”
 The Birth of the Qubit
 1992 – Benjamin Schumacher, a
former student of Wheeler, coined the
term “qubit”
 “Bit of quantum information”
 1992 – Debut of qubit in Dallas
Conference on the Physics of
Computation
 How did the computers code
information?
 “But if you’re going to talk about
quantum computing, bits wouldn’t
be the right way to go about it. You
needed quantum bits of information:
qubits.”
Qubit – “quantum bit”; the basic unit of
information in quantum computing
 Unlike classical bits, which can only exist
as either 0 or 1, quantum bits can exist in
either 0 or 1 or a superposition of both 0
and 1 simultaneously until they are
measured
 It also exhibits entanglement, meaning
their states can be linked over distance
 Superposition – a qubit can represent
multiple values at the same time, rather
than just a single value like a classical bit
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 Comparison: Classical and Quantum a given measurement result, α and β are
Computers constrained by the requirement that
Properties Classical Quantum 
Basic unit Bits (0 or 1) Qubits (0, 1,
or both)
Superpositio Not possible Possible
n
Entangleme Not possible Possible
nt
Processing Perform Can perform  Normalization Formula
tasks one by multiple
one calculations
simultaneou
sly
Speed Limited by Faster and
Moore’s law more
and physical efficient for 
limitations certain  Bloch’s Representation – gives a way
problems of describing a single-qubit quantum
Mathematical Representations state as a three-dimensional real-valued
 Dirac’s Notation – a concise and vector
powerful way to describe quantum states
and operations
 While a qubit can exist in a superposition
of the states 0 and 1, whenever we make
a measurement, we are not going to find
it like that. In fact, when a qubit is
measured, it is only going to be found to
be in state 0, or state 1.
 Quantum mechanics – when we
measure a quantum system, it changes
into the measurement; after being 
measured, the qubits are not in a
superposition anymore
 A measurement corresponds to the
informal idea of “looking” at a qubit,
which immediately collapses the quantum 
state to one of the two classical states 1  Mapping the qubit state into the
or 0. Bloch sphere
  Theta (θ) – polar angle; controls the
position between the north pole (|
0>) and the south pole (|1>) of the
Bloch sphere
 Since the squares of these coefficients
are related to the probability of obtaining

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

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 Phi (φ) – azimuthal/phase angle;  How does Superconducting
determines the rotation around the Circuits work?
equator of the Bloch sphere  Qubits are created using
superconducting loops with
Josephson junctions, allowing them
to exist in the superposition of two
energy states
 These qubits are manipulated using
microwave pulses, which control
their quantum states and
interactions
 Since these circuits are made using

conventional semiconductor
Physical Realization of a Qubit
fabrication techniques, they can be
 Trapped ions
integrated into large-scale chip
 Uses charged atoms as qubits
designs.
 These ions are confined and
 Quantum dots
manipulated using electromagnetic
 Nanoscale semiconductor structures
fields inside a vacuum chamber
that can confine a single or a few
 How are trapped ions controlled?
electrons, making them excellent
 Ion trapping: ions are placed in a
candidates for qubits
Paul trap or Penning trap, which
 These are based on electron spin or
uses electromagnetic fields to hold
charge states, which can be controlled
them in place and prevent unwanted
using electric and magnetic fields
movement
 How do quantum dots work?
 Encoding qubits: they are encoded
 A quantum dot is created by
in the internal energy levels of an
confining electrons in a small region
ion. Commonly, hyperfine levels or
within a semiconductor material.
electronic states serve as the two
 The electron spin (up or down) or
qubit states (0 and 1). Lasers or
charge state (presence or absence
microwave radiation are used to
of an electron) serves as the qubit
manipulate these states for quantum
state (0 and 1).
operations
 Quantum operations are performed
 Manipulation and control:
using gate voltages and microwave
precisely tuned laser pulses control
pulses to manipulate the electron’s
interactions between ions
state.
 Superconducting circuits
 Photonic qubits
 One of the most advanced and widely
 Photons exhibit neither mass nor
used technologies
charge. Consequently, they do not
 They employ Josephson junctions,
interact with each other.
which are made by sandwiching a thin
 these are ideal candidates for many
insulating layer between two
quantum information processing
superconducting materials. This allows
tasks and quantum communication
the flow of a superconducting circuit
 long coherent time, very weak
without resistance, enabling the
interaction with the environment,
formation of qubits
travels at speed of light, allows a
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multiple degree-of-freedom  topological qubits store quantum
encoding information in non-local quantum
 How do photonic qubits work? states that are spread out across a
 A photon’s polarization state system
(horizontal or vertical) or its path  they rely on Majorana fermions
through an optical system serves as (Majorana zero modes), which are
a qubit. exotic quasiparticles that emerge in
 Photons can be manipulated using certain topological superconductors
beam splitters, phase shifters, and  These exhibit non-Abelian braiding
waveplates statistics; swapping (braiding) them
 Unlike matter-based qubits, photons around each other performs
suffer almost no decoherence, quantum operations
making them ideal for transmitting  Key concepts
quantum information  Majorana fermions – hypothetical
 Defect-based qubits particles that are their own
 Use imperfections or defects in a antiparticles; can appear as
material’s crystal lattice to create and quasiparticles in specific materials
manipulate quantum states  Non-Abelian anyons – exotic
 These defects can trap and control quasiparticles that obey non-Abelian
single electrons or atomic nuclei, statistics
making them useful for quantum  Braiding operations – physically
computation moving Majorana zero modes around
 How do defect-based qubits work? each other in a specific sequence;
 Some materials naturally contain this process is intrinsically fault-
vacancies (missing atoms) or tolerant because the quantum
impurities, which can act as stable information is encoded in the
quantum systems topology of the system rather than
 These defects create localized the local state of a particle
electronic or spin states, which can  Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
be used as qubits Qubits
 The qubit state is usually based on  Uses the nuclear spins of molecules in
the electron spin or optical a strong magnetic field to represent
transitions of the defect qubits
 Microwave or optical pulses are used  It is the experimental observation of
to manipulate and read out the the resonant absorption of energy by
quantum states nuclei from the radio-frequency
 Topological qubits sources
 Special type of qubit that leverage  When the nuclear magnetic moment
topological states of matter to encode associated with a nuclear spin is placed
quantum information in an external magnetic field, the
 designed to be highly resistant to different spin states are given different
errors, making them a promising magnetic potential energies
candidate for fault-tolerant quantum  How does NMR work?
computing  Molecules are placed in a powerful
 How do topological qubits work? magnetic field, aligning their nuclear
spins.
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 Radiofrequency pulses are used to  Good for perfect
manipulate these spins and perform sending light
quantum operations informatio sources
 Quantum information is read out n over long and
using NMR spectroscopy techniques distances detectors
Pros and Cons of Each Implementation  Can work
Method at room
Qubit type Pros Cons temperatu
Trapped ions  Stays  Works res
stable for slowly Defect-based  Stays  Hard to
a long  Hard to qubits (e.g. stable for make
time make NV centers in a long more
 Very bigger diamond) time qubits
accurate systems  Can work  Not very
operations  Needs at higher accurate
 Can special temperatu  Need
connect all lasers to res special
qubits control  Can be materials
easily used with
Superconduct  Works  Doesn’t telecom
ing circuits very fast stay stable systems
 Can be for long
made  Needs Topological  Very  Very hard
larger very cold qubits strong to create
using temperatu against in real life
current res errors  Needs rare
technology  Hard to  Could and
 Works well make all make very special
with qubits the reliable materials
microchips same quantum
Quantum dot  Can be  Doesn’t computers
qubits made stay stable NMR qubits  Stays  Can’t be
using for long stable for made big
normal  Hard to a long  Needs
chip make each time very large
technology qubit the  We molecules
 Works fast same already to work
 Needs know how
very to control
precise them well
control  Current State-of-the-Art and
Photonic  Doesn’t  Hard to Practical Challenges
qubits lose make logic  Scalability – increasing the number of
informatio operations qubits while maintaining coherence
n easily  Needs and fidelity

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 Error correction – quantum error
correction methods are essential but
require significant overhead
 Interconnects – efficient qubit
interconnections for large-scale
quantum processors are still in
development
 Environmental sensitivity – many 
qubit types require extreme isolation or
cryogenic temperatures
 Hardware integration – bringing
quantum systems with classical
computing for practical applications
Quantum Gates and Operations
 Quantum computing relies on quantum

logic gates, which are the fundamental
 Multi-Qubit Gates
building blocks of quantum circuits
 Controlled NOT (CNOT) Gate – this
 Quantum gates are unitary operations
matrix operates on two-qubit states
 Fundamental Single Qubit Gates
written in the basis |00>, |01>, |10>, |
 Hadamard Gate (H)
11>, where the first qubit is the

control and the second qubit is the
target


The CNOT gate flips the target qubit
only if the control qubit is |1>.
 Toffoli (CCNOT) Gate
 A three-qubit gate that flips the third
qubit (target) only when the first two
qubits (controls) are both |1>.
 S-Gate

 Applies a ϖ/2 phase shift (90°
 Pauli Gate (X, Y, Z)
rotation) to |1>.

 
 T-Gate
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 Applies a ϖ/4 phase shift (45° Quantum Decoherence – the process in
rotation) to |1>. which a system in a quantum state collapses
into a non-quantum state.
 Can be intentionally triggered by
measuring a quantum system or by other
environmental factors (sometimes, these
factors trigger it unintentionally).
 Allows quantum computers to provide
 measurements and interact with classical
 How Quantum Gates Manipulate computers
Qubits Quantum Error Correction (QEC) – set of
 Quantum gates manipulate qubits techniques for protecting quantum
using linear algebra operations (matrix information from errors that are caused by
multiplications) noise and decoherence
 Basic quantum algorithms  A common method is using multiple
Algorith Purpos Speedu Quantu physical qubits to encode a logical qubit.
m e p (CLS m Entangling these qubits helps detect and
vs QNT) Gates correct quantum errors without having to
Used directly measure the qubits’ states
Deutsch- Determi Exponent Hadama Applications
Joza nes if a ial rd (H),  Quantum Optimization – quantum
function speedup Oracle computers, leveraging the principles of
is (1 step (U_f) superposition and entanglement, can
constan instead explore multiple solutions simultaneously,
t or of 2n2n significantly speeding up the process
balance  Example:
d  Logistics and Supply Chain
Grover’s Finds a Quadrati Hadama Management
Search specific c rd (H),  Drug and Chemical Research
item in speedup Oracle  Quantum Communication for Secure
an (O(√N) vs (U_f), IoT Networks in Smart Cities
unsorte O(N)) Grover  Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) allows
d Diffusion for unbreakable encryption using
databas Operator qubits
e (H, X,  If a hacker tries to intercept quantum
CNOT, communication, the act of
Z) measurement disturbs the qubits,
Quantum Transfe Enables Hadama immediately alerting the system
Teleporta rs a quantum rd (H),  Example:
tion qubit networks CNOT,  Smart traffic systems
state (no Measure  Autonomous vehicles
using classical ment,  Secure surveillance systems
entangl equivale Classical Challenges
ement nt) Correcti  Control over individual qubits at
ons (X, scale – as the number of qubits in a
Z) quantum computing system increases,
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controlling individual qubits becomes  Impact: widespread use of quantum
increasingly complex. computing in cybersecurity, drug
 Cooling and environmental control – discovery, and materials engineering
most qubit technologies require extensive  Room-Temperature Qubits for
cooling equipment, both in terms of size Practical Use
and power, which may exceed the  Current status: most qubits require
feasibility of currently available extremely low temperatures (near
equipment. absolute zero) to function
 Manufacturing – some qubit designs use  Future goal: developing room-
existing production technology, while temperature qubits using new
others require new manufacturing materials
techniques. The production of full-scale  Impact: quantum computers become
quantum computers will necessitate more accessible, reducing
automated manufacturing and testing for infrastructure costs
components at scale
Future Prospects ECE 2 – QUANTUM DOTS
 Quantum Supremacy in Real-World
Applications Quantum dot – a nanostructure, ranging
 Current status: Google achieved from 2-10 nm, made from semiconductor
quantum supremacy in 2019, but material that can confine electrons in all
practical applications remain limited directions
 Future goal: quantum computers  Unlike bulk materials, electrons inside a
outperforming classical ones in finance, quantum dot are restricted in their
logistics, and weather predictions movement, causing them to behave in
 Impact: industries will adopt quantum ways dictated by quantum mechanics
algorithms for real-time optimization  This confinement leads to size-
and simulation dependent optical and electronic
 Quantum AI and Machine Learning properties, which means that quantum
 Current status: quantum machine dots can be precisely engineered to
learning (QML) is still in its early control their light emission, electrical
experimental stage conductivity, and chemical reactivity
 Future goal: hybrid quantum-classical
AI models that can accelerate deep
learning and data analytics
 Impact: faster drug discovery, better
financial forecasting, and more
advanced robotics
 Commercial Quantum Computing
 Current status: quantum computers
are mainly in research labs (IBM,
Google, Rigetti, etc.)
 Future goal: companies and
individuals accessing cloud-based
quantum computing for commercial-
based applications

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