Japanese Researchers Streamline Quantum Information Transmission

(Phys.org) The ability for quantum computers to communicate with one another has been limited by the resources required for such exchanges, constraining the amount of information that can be traded, as well as the amount of time it can be stored.
Professor Kae Nemoto, Director of the Global Research Center for Quantum Information Science at the National Institute of Informatics (NII) in Japan, have taken a major step toward addressing these resource limitations.
Nemoto and her team addressed this issue using a process called quantum multiplexing, in which they reduced not only noise, but also the number of resources needed to transmit information. In multiplexing, the information contained within two separate photons is combined into one photon, like two envelopes being sent in a portfolio, so the information is still individually protected but only one stamp is needed for transport.
“In this system, quantum error correction will play an essential role, not only of protecting the quantum information transmitted, but also for significantly reducing the necessary resources to achieve whatever tasks one needs,” said paper co-author William J. Munro, a researcher at NTT’s Basic Research Laboratories.