The Feynman Processor: An Introduction to Quantum Computation (Frontiers of science)

Conventional computers can't go on getting faster and smaller forever. Eventually the basic switches inside computers will reach atomic size. The unpredictability of matter at this level has forced scientists to rethink the way we could design, build and use these new "quantum computers". It has already been proved that a quantum computer could solve certain problems like cracking codes much faster than a conventional computer. Without using any mathematical formulae, "The Feynman Processor" tells of the development of quantum computation. It describes the essential features of the quantum world which could endow quantum computers with so much power, and details current attempts by mathematicians, engineers, computer scientists and physicists to design a machine that can realise the dream of quantum computational power.