Last week at the Hot Chips conference, held at Stanford University, scientists from IBM's Almaden Research Center used the world's largest quantum computer, a single 5-bit molecule made of five flourine atoms, to solve a complex mathematical problem. The order-finding problem, requiring numerous steps in conventional computers, was solved in a single step by the microscopic computer that operates on the principles of quantum physics. Quantum computing pioneer Isaac Chuang said, "It reinforces the growing realization that quantum computers may someday be able to live up to their potential of solving, in remarkably short times, problems that are so complex that the most powerful supercomputers couldn't calculate the answers even if they worked on them for millions of years."

To read the source article, go to eet.com. To visit Stanford's quantum computing site, click squint.stanford.edu.