The Long-Awaited Promise of a Programmable Quantum Computer
technologyreview.com
technologyreview.com
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts/nistir-8105/nistir_...
Also relevant is Frederic Jacob's analysis of the NSA's relatively sudden shift towards post-quantum cryptography:
"[It] says that it takes up to 20 years for algorithms to be fully deployed on NSS, and the equipment is often used for 30 years or more. NSA refers to “many experts” that predict a quantum computer capable of effectively breaking public key crypto within that timeframe and that it is important to address that concern."
(as in, the govts know, of course.)
http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.04512
"Demonstration of a Programmable Quantum Computer Module"
Abstract:
>"Quantum computers can solve certain problems more efficiently than any possible conventional computer. Small quantum algorithms have been demonstrated in multiple quantum computing platforms, many specifically tailored in hardware to implement a particular algorithm or execute a limited number of computational paths. Here, we demonstrate a trapped-ion quantum computer module that can be programmed in software to implement arbitrary quantum algorithms by executing any sequence of universal quantum logic gates. We compile algorithms into a fully-connected set of gate operations native to the hardware. Reconfiguring these gate sequences provides the flexibility to implement a variety of algorithms without altering the hardware. As examples, we implement the Deutsch- Jozsa (DJ), Bernstein-Vazirani (BV), and quantum Fourier transform (QFT) algorithms on five trapped-ion qubits. This small quantum computer can be scaled to larger numbers of qubits within a single module, and can be further expanded by connecting many modules through ion shuttling or photonic quantum channels."
ADMISSION_OF_IGNORANCE: I haven't read the paper yet, but it looks fascinating and it's definitely on my must-read-quickly list. At present, I don't know if any of their code is available publicly.