Towards the quantum Internet: for the first time, physicists managed to connect two atoms separated by more than 30 km

The transition from copper connections to coaxial connections has been gigantic. Years later, fiber-optic optics appeared, breaking all established speed records. In the last decade, telecommunications engineers have been working to improve the fiber optic gap and increase its speed.

Now, in mid-2022, all eyes are on the next step: the quantum internet. It promises brutal speeds with no lag or response times.. Connections will be instant regardless of distance.

German researchers achieve quantum entanglement of two atoms separated by a 33 km optical fiber. This is a record distance for this type of communication and represents an important step towards a fast and secure quantum Internet.

Quantum entanglement is the strange phenomenon that allows two particles to be so inextricably linked. that the study of one of them allows you to find out the state of the other.

And even more strange, if you change something in one particle, it instantly changes its companion, regardless of the distance between them.

This leads to the disturbing conclusion that information travels faster than the speed of light, hence its huge potential for the future of telecommunications.

Despite its seeming impossibility, quantum entanglement has been demonstrated in experiments for decades. in which scientists use their strange nature to transmit data quickly over long distances.

And in a new study, scientists from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and Saarland University broke the record for the quantum entanglement distance between two atoms through an optical fiber.

In their experiments, the team entangled two rubidium atoms held in optical traps in two different buildings on the LMU campus. They were separated by 700 m of optical fiber, which was extended to 33 km with additional cable reels.

Each atom is excited by a laser pulse that causes it to emit a photon that is quantum entangled with the atom. The photons are then sent along fiber optic cables to meet at a receiving station in the center.

There, the photons undergo a joint dimension that entangles them, and since each is already entangled with its own atom, the two atoms also become entangled with each other.

Although photons have already been entangled at large distances, this study sets a new distance record for two entangled atoms. which could function as “quantum memory” nodes via optical fiber.

The team says this is an important step towards realizing a practical quantum internet. These communication networks will be much faster and more secure than the current ones.