The Long-Term Future of the Cryptography Policy Debate

[Thomas Womack]

>You could say that again. For those who hadn't been aware of the progress
of
>the quantum computer, one has actually been built, and used to factor the 4
bit
>"hard prime" number, 15. Rather delightfully, the core unit was a fresh cup
of
>really hot tea !! (Well, nearly).

Has anyone got a reference for this? I thought the current state of the art
in quantum computation might manage to factorise 4 before the end of the
millennium; I had read about the NMR-based methods, which looked as if they
relied on ridiculously delicate manipulation of molecules but could take
advantage of the very large number of molecules in a bulk sample, but I
wasn't aware that anyone had factorised a number with them yet.

Tom