Understanding interference
One of the benefits of quantum computing is its ability to interleave these principles in such a way that usually, while explaining one, you can very easily describe the other. We did this earlier in this chapter with respect to interference. Let’s review and see where we have come across this phenomenon and its usage so far.
First, recall that, at the beginning of this chapter, we described the double-slit experiment. There, we discussed how an electron can act as both a wave and a particle. When acting like a wave, we saw that the experiment illustrated how the electrons traveled and landed at certain spots on the observation screen. The pattern that it displayed was generally one that we recognize from classic physics as wave interference.
The pattern had probabilistic results along the backboard, as shown in the observing screen in Figure 4.2, where the center of the screen has the highest number of electrons and the blank areas along...
