Does the age of quantum computing mean a brighter future for physicists?

[TechieDork]

The arrival of quantum computing reminds me of "the manhattan project" and "the sputnik alert" when physicists are highly demanded.
And this makes me wonder if the age of quantum computing means the better future for physicists since the development of quantum computers needs at least graduate-level knowledges of QM?

-Is there any employment documentation about this?

 

[jedishrfu]

It’s too soon to know what a QC job will be like. Right now it’s all research.

However:

I imagine one job might be translating a real world problem into its QC equivalent like programmers of today on classical machines or even just identifying whether a QC can help and what steps are needed to solve it. Just as there are some problems that can’t be parallelized, there are problems that can’t be done on a QC.

Another job might be that of a QC diagnostician, one who figures out why the QC isn‘t getting the right answer. Could there be some loss of entanglement before the calculation is completed? Could there be some external contamination?

Another would be the QC hardware engineer who would make sure the machine is functioning at spec, who might maintain and repair the classical to QC interface.

of course, all these jobs might be replaced with an AI and a robot or by engineering of qubits into easily replaceable chips For a technician type of job.

 

[Locrian]

I don't see any reason it will produce a large number of jobs that require a physics specialty. Right now I'm sure having a couple of team members with a strong physics background is required for those groups working to improve the quality and number of qubits in their QC.

But once you figure out how to build the QC people want, it'll be largely engineering scaling up production and programmer types doing the programming. Not that physicists can't do either of those things, but typical PhD/masters types don't have those skills.

The research path to get a useful QC, which will likely take decades*, should be a fun ride for the physicists involved though.

*Not counting annealing or other semi-quantum computers, a la d-wave

 

[StatGuy2000]

When we talk about QC, we do need to distinguish between two types of research:

(1) the hardware engineering component of building a physical quantum computing device, and

(2) the algorithmic (aka algorithms that incorporate features of quantum theory to solve specific problems, and the theoretical properties of said algorithms).

Even assuming that (1) above becomes a practical reality within my lifetime doesn't guarantee a host of new jobs for physicists. Sure, some physicists could see themselves developing hardware for new quantum computers, but not many.

For (2), I see whatever new jobs related to that aspect to be primarily led by computer scientists, particular theoretical computer scientists specializing in QC algorithms.

On the more general question of a brighter future for physicists on the job front -- the future is reasonably bright for those who leave physics research.

For example, those with physics backgrounds should be able to find employment in areas like software development, finance, geology, medical physics, nuclear reactor work, data science, public policy, patent law, teaching (elementary & secondary school), etc. (perhaps also in areas like photonics or solid state in some engineering companies).

But I don't see much reason for optimism for increased job opportunities in physics research any time soon, either in academia or in industry.