Quantum computers are applied to reveal hidden material pairs, simulate ions, analyze viral structures, assist protein studies, and measure quantum states faster.Quantum computers are finding real-world applications in fields as diverse as materials science, biology, and medicine. In materials science, quantum computers can reveal hidden correlations in materials that are invisible to classical simulations, such as the pairing of electrons in superconductors. In biology, they help decode the structure of viruses, assist in protein folding studies, and even analyze thermal patterns in breast cancer detection. Quantum computers also excel at measuring quantum states more efficiently, using techniques like shadow tomography to extract information from a quantum system with far fewer measurements than classical methods. These applications are still in the early stages, but they demonstrate the potential of quantum computing to solve problems that are intractable for classical machines.
The idea of using quantum computers for practical applications dates back to Feynman's 1982 proposal to simulate quantum systems with quantum hardware. However, the first experimental demonstrations of these applications only occurred in the late 2010s and early 2020s, as hardware became capable enough to run small but meaningful instances.
The underlying mechanism varies by application. For materials, quantum computers simulate the quantum mechanical behavior of electrons, which is exponentially hard for classical computers. For viral structures, quantum algorithms can solve the optimization problems involved in reconstructing 3D structures from cryo-electron microscopy data. For protein studies, quantum computers can model the quantum effects in enzyme active sites, which classical force fields miss. In measurement, shadow tomography uses random measurements to reconstruct a quantum state with a small number of samples, and quantum computers can implement this protocol natively.
Quantum computers are currently used in research labs to simulate molecular properties for drug discovery, analyze materials for better batteries, and develop more sensitive medical imaging techniques. Companies like IBM, Google, and startups are partnering with pharmaceutical and materials companies to explore these applications.
Quantum computers can detect the 'quantum shadows' of states — a technique that allows measuring a quantum system's properties using exponentially fewer samples than classical tomography, making it possible to verify quantum computations in practice.
