Quantum computing heads for the cloud

security computing technology will be compatible with the "cloud computing" approach popular on the Web, a study suggests, BBC reports.

Quantum computing will use the inherent uncertainties in quantum physics to carry out fast, complex computations.

Researchers have used quantum mechanics to encrypt heavy-duty number-crunching computing, thereby removing a major obstacle in the adoption of the cloud for many enterprises, The Register notes.

Their experiment envisions the data processing servers as a quantum computer, and the eggheads have succeeded in hiding the input, data processing and output of a computation from any possible snooping.

The scientists in the Vienna research group have demonstrated the concept of "blind quantum computing" in an experiment: they performed the first known quantum computation during which the user's data stayed perfectly encrypted, EurekAlert writes.

The experimental demonstration uses photons, or "light particles", to encode the data. Photonic systems are well suited to the task because quantum computation operations can be performed on them, and they can be transmitted over long distances.

The process works in the following manner. The user prepares qubits - the fundamental units of quantum computers - in a state known only to himself, and sends these to the quantum computer. The quantum computer entangles the qubits according to a standard scheme. The actual computation is measurement-based: the processing of quantum information is implemented by simple measurements on qubits. The user tailors measurement instructions to the particular state of each qubit and sends them to the quantum server. Finally, the results of the computation are sent back to the user, who can interpret and utilise the results of the computation. Even if the quantum computer or an eavesdropper tries to read the qubits, they gain no useful information, without knowing the initial state; they are "blind".