Understand where we are today with quantum computing and what the key concepts are. Learn what has historically been possible, what the difference is between classical computing and quantum computing. 

Touches on introductory topics such as what qubits are in a friendly, less mathematical way. Includes a hands-on tutorial where attendees can submit quantum circuits to both simulators and real quantum machines. 

This Introductory level course will cover:

Brief history: 

• The original story behind the development of quantum mechanics 
• Quantum computing and difficulties with Moore’s Law 
• Events motivating the creation of machines based on QC, rather than classical 
• Universal Quantum Computer, David Deutsch 
• Initial quantum applications, quantum algorithms: Shor and Grover 
• Physical realisations of quantum hardware, algorithm verification 
• The race to create machines with more and more qubits (today) 

Introductory concepts: 

• What qubits are 
• What gates/circuits are 
• What a measurement is/means 
• Bell state 
• Methods how to interact with these objects, e.g. IBM Quantum Composer, qiskit notebooks 

Demonstration: 

• Signing into IBM Quantum 
• Locating the Quantum Composer 
• Create a two-qubit circuit 
• Add a H gate, a CNOT gate, followed by a measurement on each qubit 
• Submit to a simulator 
• Submit to IBM-Q (real quantum hardware)  
• Comparing the output using the different machines 

There are no pre-requisites for this course.