Computers, as we all know, have gone down in history as one of the most important contributors to the present standards of information processing and connectivity.And even after quite a few decades when the first computer appeared on the face of the planet,the field of computing is still developing at an astonishing pace.Gone are the days when bulky desktops used to occupy quite a large amount of space on our desks,we now have the luxury of laptops and even palmtops,which are not only several times smaller in size,but also much faster.And that is not all,the world’s fastest supercomputer now is occupies less than one hundredth of what the first computer used to occupy,and is probably a million times faster.The main point behind all these facts is that the art of miniaturization has proceeded at an astonishing pace,coupled with the development of computing abilities.However,scientists predict that not far away in future,there will come a time when the miniaturization process will reach its saturation point.experts are agreed on the point that very soon,there must come a time when the process of miniaturization will reach such a stage,when it might not be possible to reduce the size of the machines any further without compromising on its computing and processing abilities.And this is where we need to resort to the complex world of quantum mechanics.

As we all know,all around us there is a world of microscopic,subatomic particles which make up everything that we see around us.and it is their minute dimensions which is the reason that their behaviour cannot be always predicted with the help of classical Newtonian physics.

With the discovery of quantum mechanics, however, scientists could predict the behavior and the nature of these particles.and they discovered a peculiar characteristic of quantum particles-the concept of uncertainty.Uncertainty is an inherent characteristic of these particles.for example,Heisenberg’s principle states that it was not possible to determine with absolute accuracy the position and the velocity of electrons.

Another model of uncertainty in quantum mechanics was demonstrated by the famous scientist,Erwin Schroedinger,in a well-known experiment called Schroedinger’s cat.in this experiment,he kept a cat inside a box which was closed from all sides .the box also called a small pellet of potassium cyanide along with a mechanism which was designed to release cyanide vapours in the box when certain factors in the internal atmosphere of the box attained specified levels,and thus,kill the cat.He reasoned that only after we opened the box after an hour,we could be sure that the cat was either alive or dead.But before the box was opened,there was equal probability that the cat was dead or alive - which was the concept of uncertainty.

And now,let us come to the point of application of the sense of uncertainty in computing.Even though,throughout the history of computing,there has been several revolutionary additions and alterations in the structure,designing and speed of computers,one aspect has remained almost the same - the manner in which computers processes information.A computer operation can be thought of as a complex combination of logic gates.A simple logic gate has two possible outputs-either 0 or 1.When several thousands of logic gates are correlated and combined,we get a complex operation.Be it the early vacuum tubes and transistors,or the modern day silicon chips,they all use these two-way logic gates to function.

Scientists have envisioned the use of uncertainty in quantum mechanics as another output in a logic gate.As of now,we can imagine only two states,either 1 or 0,but supppose there were processors that had logic gates with more number of possible outputs-0,1 and the in-between state which was neither zero nor 1.

This has opened up an exciting new range of possibilities.

Let us consider two ordinary logic gates:if we combine all the possible outputs,we can get atmost four different combinations.Now,if there were to exist a logic gate which had some stage in between 0 and 1,then two such gates would give us 9 different combinations at least!

Now,if we use thousands of such processors,they would produce about a million more combinations than normal logic gates…. And if these logic gates are used in complex operations,they could increase the processor speed by mind-boggling amounts!!

Even though this concept is still at infant stage,but scientists are hopeful of making this seemingly impossible mission.but let us keep our fingers crossed and wait for this near-miraculous discovery to materialize and add another page to the development of computing.