The attraction of quantum computation and quantum communica tion theory and experiments hes in the fact that we engineer both them themselves and the quantum systems they treat. This approach has turned out to be very resiUent. Driven by the final goal of calculating exponentially faster and communicating infinitely more securely than we do today, as soon as we encounter a limitation in either a theory or experiment, a new idea around the no-go emerges. As soon as the decoherence "demon" threatened the first computation models, quan tum error correction theory was formulated and applied not only to computation theory but also to communication theory to make it un conditionally secure. As soon as liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance experiments started to approach their limits, solid-based nuclear spin experiments-the Kane computer-came in. As soon as it was proved that it is theoretically impossible to completely distinguish photon Bell states, three new approaches appeared: hyperentanglement, the use of continuous variables, and the Knill-Laflamme-Milburn proposal. There are many more such examples. What facilitated all these breakthroughs is the fact that at the present stage of development of quantum computation and communication, we deal with elementary quantum systems consisting of several two-level systems. The complexity of handling and controlHng such simple sys tems in a laboratory has turned out to be tremendous, but the basic physical models we follow and calculate for the systems themselves are not equally intricate.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
From the reviews:
"The author notes that the classical electronic components contained in the actual computers have actually attained the lower limit after which one enters a world dominated by quantum laws. . The book contains over 200 references, which contain the most important results from the literature. . The book is accessible and can be useful to physicists, mathematicians and engineers alike." (Gheorghe E. I. Draganescu, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2007 b)
"The author intends to give an 'interplay between mathematics and physics', to 'present those details that are used most often both in theory and experiment and to dispense with many inessential ones'. In fact, the demands to the reader are moderate such that the book can be suitable for a first contact with this field." (K. -E. Hellwig, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1122 (24), 2007)
"Pavicic's book achieves its own characteristic balance between the complementary attributes, depth and breadth, such that algorithmists and computation theorists will be reading both within and very much around their subject as that subject is conventionally construed. . The book will be valuable for researchers, and for neophytes who want to get the 'flavor' of quantum computing . ." (George Hacken, SIGACT News, Vol. 40 (4), 2009)
