Quantum simulators own been realized on a number of experimental platforms, including systems of ultracold quantum gases, polar molecules, trapped ions, photonic systems, quantum dots, and superconducting circuits.
Quantum simulators may be contrasted with generally programmable “digital” quantum computers, which would be capable of solving a wider class of quantum problems.
Quantum simulators permit the learning of quantum systems are difficult to learning in the laboratory and impossible to model with a supercomputer.
In 1996, Seth Lloyd showed a standard quantum computer can be programmed to simulate any local quantum system efficiently.
A universal quantum simulator is a quantum computer proposed by Yuri Manin in 1980 and Richard Feynman in 1982.
A quantum system of numerous particles is define by a Hilbert space whose dimension is exponentially large in the number of particles.
David Deutsch in 1985, took the ideas further and define a universal quantum computer.
Source:
[1] Wikipedia Contributors. “Quantum Simulator.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 June 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_simulator. Accessed 10 Nov. 2020.
[2] pixy.org. “Fractal Render 3D Quantum Image.” Pixy.org, 1970, pixy.org/4740990/. Accessed 10 Nov. 2020.