Analog Quantum Computing and Quantum Intelligent Systems: How to Build Them

In December 2014, I proposed a new concept for analog quantum computing, for quantum intelligent systems, and for critical steps needed to make these technologies into a reality. This was proposed in a conference paper for a keynote talk at the workshop on Quantum Computing, at the Pacific Rim Conference in Artificial Intelligence, December 2014, held in Queensland, Australia. Here I will give you a brief explanation of what it means, and a link to where to find the 14 slides and the audio to go with them:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzYEn42Vg7DKMFZBanpMRmdESVU&usp=sharing

If you go that web site, you will see two files with the name “PRICAI” in them. You can see the talk if you download those files, and play the audio as you look at the slides. The talk lasted about 40 minutes – and is easier to follow than the paper itself. The paper has more technical details.

Since the conference as a whole focuses on AI, I started by asking some basic questions about intelligent systems as such.

We can build intelligent systems like mammal brains without using any kind of quantum computing. Quantum effects are used in some way inside of brain cells, but the brain as a whole is not a quantum computer. However, to build the highest level of intelligence possible, with the highest level of consciousness, we must combine brain-like learning with the hardware capabilities of the most powerful possible quantum computing. My talk focused on how to do that – but in fact, the new hardware technology can be useful in quantum computing and communication, and in other ways, even before we get to building quantum intelligent systems.

Long ago, we learned that we get more power and more potential for learning by moving from a digital way of thinking to an analog way of thinking, form Turing machines to neural networks. The first step in building quantum intelligence is to move from digital quantum computing to analog quantum computing.

The key idea for analog quantum computing is very simple, in the end. Instead of using a spin to represent a bit, |0> or |1>, use it to represent a continuous variable, |theta>.  That's just like modern neural networks, which get past 0 and 1, and make use of bounded continuous variables.

But.. we can't design computers until we can design, understand and model the basic logic elements they are made of. For classical computers, these are transistors For quantum computers computing with spin instead of voltage, these are "spin gates." For analog quantum computing, these are TUNABLE spin gates -- basically just glorified polarizers. We can't understand how a big network of spin gates will work, when entangled particles flow through them.. unless we can at least predict how three or four entangled photons will behave, when they enter a simple network.

It turns out -- for all the talk about quantum computers with hundreds of qubits, there are only three groups in the world which have actually entangled three or more photons, with general spins theta. No one on earth has actually done the crucial experiments with three photons which make it clear which model we should use in designing larger systems. the first key experiment is now underway cited in my papers). And so... to get to analog quantum computing, the first necessary baby step is to really nail  down what happens in the full triphoton experiment I talk about at the conference. And then... Shih has a new way to produce a hundred entangled photons; the pathway is open, if people are ready to take the next step.

Better understanding of systems of polarizers and spin gates is a NECESSARY CORE to analog quantum computing with spins, but it is not SUFFICIENT. Additional circuit elements like rotators and elements to stabilize or manipulate amplitude will probably be needed. This is just the first step/

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My talk also briefly mentions how we can get even further than analog quantum computing, but maybe for folks in the mainstream.. the challenge at present is to nail down analog quantum computing. One revolution at a time...