TapTechNews May 16th news, building a quantum network through the remote transmission of quantum states is a fundamental element of large-scale quantum information processing. Based on the quantum network, wide-area quantum key distribution, distributed quantum computing, and quantum sensing can be realized, forming the technical basis of the future 'quantum internet'.
Currently, the quantum key network based on single-photon transmission has matured, while further quantum network applications such as distributed quantum computing and distributed quantum sensing require the use of quantum relay technology to establish quantum entanglement between distant quantum memory units. Based on this, connecting various quantum information processing nodes through wide-area quantum teleportation.
The University of Science and Technology of China announced that researchers including Pan Jianwei, Bao Xiaohui, and Zhang Qiang used single-photon interference to establish entanglement between independent storage nodes for the first time, and based on this, built the world's first city-scale three-node quantum network based on entanglement. This network can establish entanglement between any two quantum memory nodes.
Officials pointed out that this work has increased the distance of real quantum entanglement networks from tens of meters to tens of kilometers, laying a scientific and technological foundation for subsequent blind quantum computing, distributed quantum computing, quantum-enhanced long-baseline interferometry and other quantum network applications.
The related research results were published online in the international academic journal 'Nature' on May 15th (TapTechNews with DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07308-0). In addition, the 'Nature' journal also published related experimental progress from Harvard University's Lukin team in the same issue, where the team achieved long-distance entanglement between two nodes in the SiV color center system for the first time. In comparison, the achievements of the University of Science and Technology of China have a significant advantage in entanglement efficiency, surpassing Harvard University's work by more than two orders of magnitude.