Researchers from the Netherlands have successfully connected three separate quantum processors in what is effectively the world's first multi-node quantum network. This paves the way for a large-scale quantum internet that governments and scientists have dreamed of for decades.
QuTech, a Delft-based quantum research institute, has published new work in which three nodes that can store and process quantum bits (also called qubits) have been linked. It is, according to QuTech researchers, the first rudimentary quantum network in the world.
Connecting quantum devices is nothing new: many researchers around the world are currently working on similar networks, but so far have only succeeded in connecting two quantum processors. Establishing a multi-node connection is therefore a key step in considerably expanding the size of the network.
The quantum internet will pave the way for new applications
The goal of creating a quantum internet that could one day spread over the entire surface of the planet is at the origin of much of the research effort. The quantum internet would exploit the strange laws of quantum mechanics to allow quantum devices to communicate with each other and would unlock a series of applications that cannot be executed with existing conventional means .
For example, the quantum internet could link together small quantum devices to create a large quantum cluster with more computing power than the most sophisticated classical supercomputers.
"A quantum internet will pave the way for a whole host of new applications, ranging from hackable communication and cloud computing with total user privacy to high precision time measurement," said Matteo Pompili , member of the QuTech research team. “And like the internet 40 years ago, there are probably a lot of applications that we can't predict right now. "
A system based on intermediate nodes
One of the key quantum properties that underpin the quantum internet is entanglement - a phenomenon that occurs when two quantum particles are coupled in such a way that they become fundamentally connected, regardless of the physical distance between them. .
When two quantum particles become entangled, their properties become linked, which means that any change to one of the particles will inevitably affect the other. In the field of quantum communications, this means that scientists could effectively use entangled particles to "teleport" information from one qubit to its coupled pair, even if the two are in separate quantum devices.
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