Inverse: Why It Matters that Delft University of Technology & QuTech Successfully Connected Three Quantum Devices

(Inverse.com) The countries and companies that have been busily laying the groundwork for a quantum internet have so far only been able to connect two quantum devices. But now, physicists at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have successfully connected three quantum devices.
In quantum computing terms it’s huge.
“This is the first time a network has been constructed from quantum processors,” lead study author Ronald Hanson told Inverse. Hanson is an experimental physicist, Distinguished Professor at Delft University of Technology, and principal investigator at QuTech, a research center devoted to quantum computing and quantum internet.
“A single direct link between two processors has been shown on many platforms in the past decade, but no network had been achieved.”
The network developed by Hanson and colleagues brings us one step closer to the quantum internet. It demonstrates how quantum devices could, with continued advances, communicate with each other over greater distances to create a functioning quantum internet in the near future.Why
“With this first network now achieved, we can start to use it as a unique testbed for quantum internet development,” Hanson says. “We will work on enhancing its functionality by increasing performance and increasing the number of qubits in the processors.”
A quantum-powered internet would be revolutionary. It would allow quantum devices to deliver astonishing levels of privacy and security, and the computational clout to solve the kinds of complex problems that would fry a classical computer.