To build the quantum internet, UChicago engineer teaches atoms how to remember

 

When the quantum internet’s time come, scientists expect it will change the computing landscape on a scale unnoticed in decades. In their estimation, it will make hacking impossible. It will protect global power grids and voting systems. It will allow almost unlimited computing power and allow users to securely send data across huge distances.

 

 

Zhong is a quantum engineer working to build this new global network. In his opinion, the full impact of the quantum internet may only be recognized after it’s been built. To recognize his work and why the United States is giving away $625million on the new technology, it helps to think through the science behind it: quantum mechanics.

 

Quantum mechanics is a model created to describe fundamental properties of matter, principally on the subatomic scale. Its roots trace back to the late 19th and early 20th century, when researchers tried to explain the strange nature of light, which behaves as both a wave and a particle. In the hundred years since then, scientists have learned a great deal, particularly about the peculiar behavior of subatomic particles.

 

They’ve learned, like, that some subatomic particles have the ability to be in both the states at the same time, a principle known as superposition. Another such principle is entanglement, which is the ability of two particles to “communicate” instantly despite being separated by a huge dsitance.

 

With time, researchers have found ways to control those principles, entangling particles at will or manipulating an electron’s spin. That new control allows scientists to encode, send, and process data using subatomic particles—setting the foundations of quantum computing and the quantum internet.

 

 

“We’re at a stage where this is no longer science fiction,” Zhong said. “More and more, it’s looking like this technology will develop from laboratories any day, ready to be adopted by society.”

 —Asst. Prof. Tian Zhong

The right tools for the job

Zhong’s study focuses on the hardware required to make the quantum internet a reality, hardware like quantum chips that encrypt and decrypt quantum data, and quantum repeaters that transmit information across network lines. To build that hardware, Zhong and his team work on the subatomic scale, using individual atoms to hold data and single photons to send it through optic cables.

 

Zhong’s recent work bases on finding ways to fight against quantum decoherence, which is when data stored on a quantum system reduces to the point that it’s no longer retrievable. Decoherence is an particularly difficult hurdle to overcome because quantum states are exceedingly sensitive and any outside force—like heat, light, radiation, or vibration—can destroy it easily.

 

Most scientists describe decoherence by keeping quantum computers at a temperature at absolute zero. But the moment any quantum state is transferred outside the freezer, say on a network line, it starts to break down within a few microseconds, rigorously limiting the potential for expansive interconnectivity.

References:

Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

https://www.techregister.co.uk/to-build-the-quantum-internet-uchicago-engineer-teaches-atoms-how-to-remember/