Four seas network: the debate between Schrodinger's cat, Einstein and Bohr & hellip; & hellip; more than 100 years ago, scientists brought quantum mechanics into the public field of vision. Since then, the exploration of quantum mechanics has been accompanied by every step of human society. In recent years, quantum computer, quantum Internet, these words appear more and more frequently in the media headlines, the "quantum" era seems to be in the future.
Tsinghua team achieves entangled quantum interface number for the first time, breaking the world record
Recently, Professor Duan Luming's research group of Tsinghua University has made important progress in the field of quantum information. For the first time, it has achieved quantum entanglement between 25 quantum interfaces, breaking the previous world record of entanglement between four quantum interfaces of the research group of Caltech.
The number of entangled quantum interfaces breaks the world record
Quantum, interface, entanglement, these words seem to have nothing to do with our life, but it's much easier to change the perspective from big to small. In our daily life, our mobile phone has an antenna interface, the computer has a network cable interface, and the interface is a channel for information transmission. What Duan Luming's team did was interface in the quantum world.
Quantum interface is used to realize the coherent transformation of quantum information between transfer particles (photons) and storage particles (usually atoms). It is an important interface between quantum memory or quantum computing unit and quantum quantum communication channel. The quantum interface is also a basic component in the field of quantum information.
In 2010, the Caltech research team achieved entanglement among four quantum interfaces, representing the previous international record. This time, Duan Luming's team of Tsinghua University realized quantum entanglement among 25 quantum interfaces for the first time, raising the world record by about six times.
25 interfaces means that there are more interfaces, which can effectively connect people. Just like in the Internet, there are more users and different contents can be included. The 'Long March' built for Quantum Internet is a step forward.
According to Professor Duan Luming, the quantum interface is a component and a basic component in the field of quantum information. The quantum interface needs to make an effective quantum connection between the particles (atoms) storing information and the particles (photons) communicating, that is, to generate entanglement. To ensure the effectiveness of quantum interface, we must first ensure that different types of particles can entangle with each other. With entanglement, quantum information can be transmitted, and the scale of quantum network can be expanded by increasing the interface. To realize entanglement between quantum interfaces is a basic requirement for constructing quantum networks and future quantum Internet.
Quantum entanglement must be pure and controllable, like "heart to heart"
In the end, adding quantum interface or realizing quantum entanglement will promote the development of quantum information. So what is the quantum entanglement that scientists want to achieve? Quantum world has two important characteristics: quantum superposition and quantum entanglement.
The popular understanding of quantum entanglement is often compared to "telepathy", which Einstein called "ghostly telepathy". In other words, two quantum entanglements, quantum a state changes can have an impact on quantum B, just like telepathy.
Quantum entanglement with such properties is the most important basic resource of information transmission and information security, and the cornerstone of quantum communication and quantum computer. However, effective quantum entanglement is not so easy to achieve. Effective quantum information transmission needs high-purity entanglement state. 'the entanglement we need is very pure and controllable, just like the intimate relationship between two people. 'Duan Luming said.