We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Experimental realization of Shor's quantum factoring algorithm using nuclear magnetic resonance.
- Authors
Vandersypen, L M; Steffen, M; Breyta, G; Yannoni, C S; Sherwood, M H; Chuang, I L
- Abstract
The number of steps any classical computer requires in order to find the prime factors of an l-digit integer N increases exponentially with l, at least using algorithms known at present. Factoring large integers is therefore conjectured to be intractable classically, an observation underlying the security of widely used cryptographic codes. Quantum computers, however, could factor integers in only polynomial time, using Shor's quantum factoring algorithm. Although important for the study of quantum computers, experimental demonstration of this algorithm has proved elusive. Here we report an implementation of the simplest instance of Shor's algorithm: factorization of N = 15 (whose prime factors are 3 and 5). We use seven spin-1/2 nuclei in a molecule as quantum bits, which can be manipulated with room temperature liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. This method of using nuclei to store quantum information is in principle scalable to systems containing many quantum bits, but such scalability is not implied by the present work. The significance of our work lies in the demonstration of experimental and theoretical techniques for precise control and modelling of complex quantum computers. In particular, we present a simple, parameter-free but predictive model of decoherence effects in our system.
- Publication
Nature, 2001, Vol 414, Issue 6866, p883
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1038/414883a