There are many foreseeable applications of quantum computers that can potentially have an impact like the Internet. We have identified following three applications that could potentially change our lives:
(I) Quantum Uncertainty can be used to create private keys for encrypting messages that are sent from one location (source) to another (destination). The hackers will be prevented from secretly copying the key because of the phenomenon of quantum uncertainty. They would have to break the laws of quantum physics to hack the key perfectly. This kind of unbreakable encryption is already being tested by banks and other institutions worldwide. With more than 17 billion connected devices globally and rising, the impact of quantum encryption on secure communications will be far reaching.
(II) Quantum technologies could also transform healthcare and medicine. Today, the design and analysis of molecules for drug development(Fig 2) is extremely challenging. Exactly describing and calculating all of the quantum properties of every atom in the molecule is a computationally difficult task even for the fastest supercomputers. However, a quantum computer could do it better as it operates using the same quantum properties as the molecule it’s trying to simulate. So future large scale quantum simulations for drug development can potentially lead to treatments for complex diseases like Alzheimer that affects millions.
(III) The most important quantum application is the teleportation(Fig 3) of information from one location to another without physically transmitting the information. Though it sounds like sci-fi, it is possible because of the fluid identities of the quantum particles. These particles can get entangled across time and space in such a way that changing something about one particle can impact the other thereby creating a channel for teleportation. It has already been demonstrated in the research labs and can be instrumental for future quantum internet. Though there is no such existing network, many companies are working on these possibilities by simulating a quantum network on a quantum computer. And a few of them have designed and implemented some interesting and new protocols. Some examples of such implementation include teleportation among different users in the network, efficient data transmission and even secure voting process.