Applied quantum computing: past, present, and future

In this talk, I give a gentle introduction into applied quantum computing, and in particular, the continuous time quantum computing my research has focused on. I briefly review my current and past work and where it fits into the broader context of quantum computing, including work which underpins an important tool for hybrid quantum / classical algorithms on the quantum computing devices produced by D-Wave Systems Inc. I further discuss how this work can be extended, as more coherent machines emerge, and what work needs to be done theoretically to support this.

I then look to the future, both of the subject as a whole and of my research, and discuss the fact that involving people without a quantum background, especially industrial end users, is crucial to the success of the field. I discuss my own work in this direction and the future plans. I further briefly explain how this work could have an impact beyond quantum computing through so called "quantum inspired" algorithms, which are entirely classical but have, in one way or another, been inspired by the way quantum machines solve problems.