Quantum Computing And Quantum Communications: First Nasa Internationsl Conference, Qcqc’98 Palm Springs, California, Usa, February 1998 Selected Papers

? Colin P. Williams Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, email: Colin. P. Williams@jpl. nasa. gov Over the past half century computers have gone from being the room-sized servants of a privileged few to the totable companions of business travellers, schoolchildren, andjust aboutanyonewho canpoint andclick a mouse. Inpart, this transformation was made possible by the dramatic miniaturization in the basic components of a computer. This trend was quantied in 1964 by Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel, who noticed that the amount of information that could be stored on a given amount of silicon doubled roughly every 18 months.