Quantum computing as a wayfinder for frontier physics

Quantum computers promise to help us find solutions to previously intractable problems in materials science, chemistry, nuclear physics, particle physics, cosmology, and many other scientific disciplines. Quantum computers are even objects of scientific inquiry in their own right. In this talk, I will describe quantum computers we have built at Sandia, quantum programming languages and quantum data types we have invented for them, and ways that we and others are using our testbed quantum computers to unravel scientific mysteries. I’ll conclude with forecasting of where quantum computing is headed and the roadblocks that need to be overcome to get us there.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.