The quantum computer for accelerating image processing and strengthening the security of information systems

Abstract

Many researchers and laboratories have been involved for many years in the development of the quantum computer. In 2019, Google has announced that they have reached quantum supremacy with their quantum computer Sycamore using a 53 qubits processor. On November 2021, IBM has also announced that they have built a quantum computer with the highest number of 127 qubits and revealed their ambitious goal of building a 1000 qubits processor by 2023. According to these two giants of the quantum computing field, such a machine can perform an astronomical quantity of calculations significantly faster than any other conventional computer. This technology could be a real revolution in many fields such as computing, artificial intelligence, medicine, chemistry, banking, experimental techniques, …etc. Since this technology is still in its infancy in hardware and software, its progress may be slow. However, many working in the field predict that 2,000 to 5,000 quantum computers of a first generation will be operational by 2030, but quantum computers needed to deal with more complex problems may not exist until 2035 or beyond. In this paper, we will go over some of the basic aspects of a quantum computer, in particular the concept of the qubit or the quantum bit and the quantum computer itself. Then we will see how a quantum computer can effectively speed up the processing of large images, reduce the amount of memory needed for computation and storage and even, strengthen the security of information systems. Lastly, we will present and discuss a real hardware implementation of the well-known quantum edge detection, as well as a spy hunter simulation. • Quantum computer is a machine that performs massively parallel calculations. • Quantum Probability Image Encoding saves memory size needed in image processing. • Quantum physics and post-quantum cryptography strengthen RSA algorithm security. • Quantum computing depends on qubit decoherence time and classical CPU frequency. • Useful calculations may be made with one million qubits in quantum computers.