(Sydney.edu.au) A team of quantum engineers has shown that atoms held in optical cavities – tiny boxes to hold light – could be foundational to the creation of a quantum internet.
Engineers at Caltech, the California Institute of Technology, have discovered that by embedding atoms of the rare-earth element ytterbium in an optical cavity they are able to control and measure a stable form of quantum information in a solid. The system they have developed has the potential to share that information over thousands of kilometres using photons. Caltech’s Professor Andrei Faraon, who led the research team said, “It’s a rare-earth ion that absorbs and emits photons in exactly the way we’d need to create a quantum network.
The team’s current focus is on creating the building blocks of a quantum network. Next, they hope to scale up their experiments and connect two quantum bits, Professor Faraon said.
Dr John Bartholomew is a co-author of the Nature paper describing the effort and worked on the project at Caltech. This year he joined the University of Sydney Nano Institute and School of Physics.
Atoms Held In Tiny Optical Cavities Could Be Foundational to a Quantum Internet
