MaxPlanckInstituteOfQuantumOptics
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Scientists create the first universal quantum network, are scared to restart the router
We all know that most networks are, well, just not "quantumy" enough. Good news, then, that German boffins at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have created the first "universal quantum network." We've been hearing about plain old quantum computing since the first qubit was sent, but now we have to get our tiny minds around the idea of a quantum internet too. Data was sent using single rubidium atoms in reflective optical cavities and single photons emitted over optical fiber. Given that data was only successfully transmitted 0.2% of the time, and the network spanned just 21 meters, a complex LAN with multiple nodes is a way off just yet, but the proof of concept is there. If that concept is the early '90s internet that is.
Electromagnetically induced transparency could create a quantum internet, quantum memes
The transistor ushered the modern world of gadgets that we all love, and now optical transistors could help to bring us to the proper next generation of the internet. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have demonstrated successful electromagnetically induced transparency, or EIT, which is effectively a way of enabling one beam of light to control another. In their experiments, researchers used a rubidium atom to indicate state, blocking a beam of light in one direction but, when a laser hit it at a perpendicular angle, turning it transparent to allow the first beam through. The idea is that this could serve as a sort of optical gate for quantum computers; the building block of a next-gen internet for next-gen devices. There's reason for excitement about the potential here, but researchers have a long, long way to go before anything like this is ready for reality, so don't give up those handlinks just yet.
Researchers create single-photon server
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics look to be doing their namesake proud, creating a single-photon server that could eventually lead to some significant advancements in quantum computing. The server was created by trapping a single Rubidium atom in a vacuum chamber and applying a laser pulse to it, which caused it to spit out one photon at a time. The key bit, it seems, is that the photons generated are of much higher quality than those derived using other methods, meaning that can essentially be made indistinguishable from one another -- a key requirement for quantum computing. With that considerable feat under their belt, the team, led by Professor Gerhard Rempe, have now set their sights on even less easily understandable experiments, including the case of the deterministic atom-photon and those always problematic atom-atom entanglements.[Via Slashdot]
