Simon Says Speed Up

Many quantum algorithms are expected to solve problems faster than their classical equivalents, but few have been tested experimentally. Now Mark Tame, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and his colleagues have used a prototype quantum computer to run the quantum version of Simon’s algorithm—historically, the first algorithm predicted to run exponentially faster on a quantum computer than a classical one. Although Simon’s algorithm doesn’t have practical applications, it could provide a useful way to test the capabilities of future quantum computers.