Quantum computing may be closer than ever. In a critical breakthrough for quantum computing, scientists trialed a quantum processor that's capable of routing quantum information from different locations.
In this latest study, researchers demonstrated for the first time the perfect state transfer of an entangled quantum bit, also known as a qubit, on an integrated photonic device. This perfect state transfer is actually a promising technique for data routing in large-scale quantum computers.
"The last 10 years has seen a wealth of theoretical proposals, but until now it has never been experimentally realized," said Alberto Peruzzo, one of the researchers involved in the new study. "Our device uses highly optimized quantum tunneling to relocate qubits between distant sites. It's a breakthrough that has the potential to open up quantum computing in the near future."
Quantum computers have the potential to be much faster at solving problems than regular computers. This is largely due to the fact that qubits can be in both states at once, rather than just being 1s or just being 0s. This state shortens the time for computing.
"Quantum computers promise to solve vital tasks that are currently unmanageable on today's standard computers and the need to delve deeper in this area has motivated a worldwide scientific and engineering effort to develop quantum technologies," Peruzzo said. "It could make the critical difference for discovering new drugs, developing a perfectly secure quantum Internet and even improving facial recognition."
A key requirement for any information technology is the ability to relocate data between locations. In the case of full scale quantum computers, these machines will contain millions of qubits that are all interconnected that will allow researchers to obtain much greater computational power.
In this case, researchers experimentally relocated qubits, encoded in single particles of light, between distant locations. During the protocol, the quantum state is maintained and entanglement is preserved. These are key for quantum computing.
The new findings could be huge for quantum computing in the future. More specifically, it shows an experimental version of quantum tunneling to relocate qubits.
The findings were published in the April edition of the journal Nature Communications.
