Quantum Network

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany say they’ve created the first-ever quantum network to send, receive, and store information using single photons traveling along a 60-meter fiber-optic cable.

“This approach to quantum networking is particularly promising because it provides a clear perspective for scalability,” says professor Gerhard Rempe, director of the Institute.

How it works: individual rubidium atoms are embedded into the optical cavities of two highly reflective mirrors placed very close together. A photon enters the cavity and is reflected between the mirrors several thousand times, enhancing the interaction between the atom and photon. This allows the atom to absorb the photon coherently and with high efficiency.

The first experimental challenge was to quasi-permanently trap the atom in the cavity. This was achieved via fine-tuned laser beams, meaning the least disturbance of the atom. In the next step, the physicists achieved controlled emission of single photons from the trapped atom. Finally, they could prove that the single-atom-cavity system represents a
perfect interface for storing the information encoded in a single photon, and they were able to transfer it onto a second single photon after a certain storage time.

“We were able to prove that the quantum states can be transferred much better than possible with any classical network,” says project leader Dr. Stephan Ritter. “We achieve reversible exchange of quantum information between the nodes. Furthermore, we can generate remote entanglement between the two nodes and keep it for about 100 microseconds, whereas the generation of the entanglement takes only about one microsecond. One day, this might not only make it possible to communicate quantum information over very large distances, but might enable an entire quantum internet.”

In case you are wondering, yes, this is basically quantum teleportation of data. Pretty cool stuff. Click here to read more.

My critically acclaimed Sci-Fi novel, Linkage: the Narrows of Time, is available on Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle e-book form. To read my Sci-Fi action thriller, click this link.