More than a century after the beginning of the quantum revolution, historians continue to explore new facets in the history of quantum physics, and to re-examine some of its better-known aspects. The thirteen papers collected in this volume, by authors from five continents, present central trends in the current study of quantum physics within its theoretical, experimental, philosophical, technological and social contexts. They discuss developments from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century and go beyond the traditional focus on Europe and North America to include China and Japan, and beyond the Heisenbergs and Diracs to reveal the role of actors who hitherto have played only a marginal role in historical account, but left their mark on the development of quantum physics. Also a wider array of subdisciplines comes into view, from optics to quantum gravity through quantum electrodynamics, from atomic and nuclear to condense matter physics and foundations of physics. Moreover, the volume shows that fields such as dispersion, physical chemistry and solid state physics should not be seen merely as areas of applications of ideas that evolved in other contexts, but should be regarded as birthplaces of important theoretical insights. The perspective of the papers ranges from local histories to global discussions, from conceptual changes via the role of experimentation to interactions with social and technological forces and to the interpretation of the theory.
Quantum computing is a rapidly evolving industrial technology that employs quantum mechanics laws to address issues that traditional archaic computers find impossible to solve. It is a computation method that uses phenomena like superposition, interference, and entanglement. It is one of the most effective theories in the twentieth century, contributing towards the progressive growth of scientific investigations. In this modern-day world, there have been certain advancements in quantum computers that have encouraged researchers to opt for different algorithms. There are certain drawbacks in the architecture, mainly the presence of certain physical constraints that restricts the logical qubits to get mapped and converted to physical qubits. This chapter puts forward the modern-day trends in the field of quantum computing, and it also focuses on the various restrictions faced in building a device following the principles of quantum computing.