Quantum Algorithms

In the last two decades, the interest in quantum computation has increased significantly among research communities. Quantum computing is the field that investigates the computational power and other properties of computers on the basis of the underlying quantum-mechanical principles. The main purpose is to find quantum algorithms that are significantly faster than any existing classical algorithms solving the same problem. While the quantum computers currently freely available to wider public count no more than two dozens of qubits, and most recently developed quantum devices offer some 50-60 qubits, quantum computer hardware is expected to grow in terms of qubit counts, fault tolerance, and resistance to decoherence. The main objective of this chapter is to present an introduction to the core quantum computing algorithms developed thus far for the field of cryptography.