Quantum computers are capable of processing information and working more effectively than the current generation of classical computers. Researchers have just discovered how to create a quantum internet that enables quantum devices to communicate information in the same way that conventional computing devices do.
In a recent experiment, scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China and the Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology showed that quantum entanglement may exist between two memory devices that are 41010 ft (12.5 km) away and are situated in an urban setting. Physical Review Letters has published the research.
One of the researchers who conducted the work, Xiao-Hui Bao, said, “In 2020, we published a paper in which we establish the entanglement of two quantum memories across a fiber link of 50 km (164041 ft).
“Because the two memories we utilized in that experiment were housed in the same lab, they were not entirely separate. The next phase in our research was to completely separate the two memories and put a lot of space between them.”
In separate parts of the town, two different nodes were introduced.
In experiments conducted by Bao and associates, two distinct quantum nodes were positioned 41010 ft (12.5 km) apart in a city setting. They coupled their first quantum memory with a single photon in the first node, designated node A. The second quantum memory in node B then received this one photon and stored it there.
Bao added, “In this technique, we entangle the two remote quantum memories.” We employ the quantum frequency conversion approach to change the photon’s wavelength from near-infrared (795 nm), which is not suited for low-loss transmission in fiber, to 1342 nm instead. This considerably increases the total transmission efficiency.
With the use of quantum memories, we were able to realize the largest distance of entanglement distribution, according to Bao. Such entanglement is the key component needed to create quantum repeaters and networks.
This most recent study by Bao and colleagues, which focuses on quantum technology and the creation of the quantum internet, provides insight into future research in this field.
Bao continued, “In the current work, the generated remote entanglement is not yet heralded, limiting its further applicability. “We intend to build a heralded version shortly, while simultaneously extending several nodes,”