Mathlab Implementation of Quantum Computation in Searching an Unstructured Database

In the classical model of a computer, the most fundamental building block, the bit, can only exist in one of two distinct states, a 0 or a 1. Computations are carried out by logic gates that act on these bits to produce other bits. Unless there is duplicate (parallel) hardware, only one problem instance (i.e. input data set) can be handled at a time. In this classical computing, increasing the number of bits increases the complexity of the problem and the time necessary to arrive at a solution. A quantum algorithm consists of a sequence of operations on a register, to transform it into a state which, when measured, yields the desired result with high probability. An n-bit quantum register can store an exponential amount of information. his paper aims at taking advantage of the superiority of quantum computing over classical computing to solve the problem of searching unstructured databases for a particular item or more than one item in good time. The general aim of this work is to establish the correctness and optimality of Grover's quantum database search algorithm compared against classical database search methods in order to investigate the superiority or otherwise of quantum computing over classical computing. This is followed by a simulation of the algorithm using a classical computer, namely through functions that are present in MATLAB, referred to as "Quantum Computing Functions".