Jared Moya
October 4th, 2006, 05:33 PM
Even if quantum computers can be made to work, there will still be two big obstacles preventing quantum networks becoming a reality. First, quantum bits, or qubits, stored in matter will have to be transferred to photons to be transmitted over long distances. Secondly, errors that creep in during transmission have to be corrected. Two unrelated studies have now shown how to clear these hurdles.
Both studies use quantum entanglement, a spooky property that links particles however far apart they are. Measuring a quantum property on one particle immediately affects the other, and this effect can be used to “teleport” information between pairs of entangled particles.
To make quantum networks possible, qubits need to be held in atoms or ions, processed, and then transformed into qubits of light for transmission between computers, says Todd Brun of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. One way to do this, he says, is to teleport the state between a photon and an atom.
Until now, quantum teleportation has only been done between similar objects – from light to light or matter to matter – but Eugene Polzik at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and his colleagues have taken the first steps towards doing what Brun suggests.
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10226-spooky-steps-to-a-quantum-network.html
Both studies use quantum entanglement, a spooky property that links particles however far apart they are. Measuring a quantum property on one particle immediately affects the other, and this effect can be used to “teleport” information between pairs of entangled particles.
To make quantum networks possible, qubits need to be held in atoms or ions, processed, and then transformed into qubits of light for transmission between computers, says Todd Brun of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. One way to do this, he says, is to teleport the state between a photon and an atom.
Until now, quantum teleportation has only been done between similar objects – from light to light or matter to matter – but Eugene Polzik at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and his colleagues have taken the first steps towards doing what Brun suggests.
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10226-spooky-steps-to-a-quantum-network.html