(Photonics.com) A Harvard and MIT team have announced a breakthrough that may be the missing link toward a practical quantum internet and a major step forward in the development of long-distance quantum networks. Quantum communication over long distances is affected by conventional photon losses, which is one of the major obstacles for realizing large-scale quantum internet.
Harvard and MIT researchers have found a way to correct for signal loss in quantum computing with a prototype quantum node that can catch, store, and entangle bits of quantum information. A quantum internet could be used to send unhackable messages, improve the accuracy of GPS, and enable cloud-based quantum computing.
“This demonstration is a conceptual breakthrough that could extend the longest possible range of quantum networks and potentially enable many new applications in a manner that is impossible with any existing technologies,” said Mikhail Lukin, professor of physics and co-director of Harvard Quantum Initiative.
According to the researchers, the solution to this involves a quantum repeater. Unlike classical repeaters, which amplify a signal through an existing network, quantum repeaters create a network of entangled particles through which a message can be transmitted.
Lukin’s lab has been working to harness a system that can perform both of these tasks effectively: silicon-vacancy color-centers in diamonds. These centers are tiny defects in a diamond’s atomic structure that can absorb and radiate light, giving rise to a diamond’s brilliant colors.
“Currently, we are working to extend this research by deploying our quantum memories in real, urban fiber optic links,” said Ralf Riedinger, a postdoctoral candidate in the Lukin group. “We plan to create large networks of entangled quantum memories and explore the first applications of the quantum internet.”
Breakthrough Could Extend the Range of Quantum Networks and Enable Many New Applications
