Quantum computing is moving from concept to experimental proofs-of-principle and even to commercial products. Various types are considered such as universal quantum computers, quantum simulators and quantum annealers. Promising media include atoms, photons and solid state. I present a high-level overview of the current state-of-the-art and aspirations for building quantum computers.

Bio. Barry Sanders earned his Bachelor of Science in Honours Physics from the University of Calgary and his PhD from Imperial College London. He was a postdoc in Australia and New Zealand and was a Professor at Macquarie University in Sydney for 12 years before returning home to Calgary where he joined as an iCORE then Alberta Innovates Professor. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the Institute of Physics (U.K.) and the Royal Society of Canada, and he is Editor-in-Chief of the New Journal of Physics.