Information has been ‘teleported’ between two computer chips for the first time, a move that could lead to a more secure ‘quantum internet’, researchers claim.
Experts from the University of Bristol and the Technical University of Denmark were able to ‘instantly send the data’ using a process called ‘quantum entanglement’.
The information was exchanged without electrical or physical contact as the process allows these particles to instantly communicate over large distances.
This is useful in quantum computing and networks as changing one particle will automatically change the other, say researchers from Bristol.
The team says their study could lead to a quantum internet that ‘would ultimately protect the world’s information from malicious attacks’.
Researchers from Bristol have created a chip that produced light particles within its circuits. The light particles are then able to use quantum entanglement to communicate instantly over a distance. This is a stock image of a possible quantum chip
Their breakthrough involved creating specially designed and programmable circuits within a chip that are able to generate light particles.
The particles are then able to use quantum entanglement to ‘teleport’ between different chips and maintain instant communication.
The team had a 91 percent success rate when getting the particles to talk to each other through the specially programmed computer chips.
‘We were able to demonstrate a high-quality entanglement link across two chips in the lab,’ says Dan Llewellyn, co-author of the study.
This new research is important as quantum computers, the internet, and other technologies rely on ‘quantum information’,’ he said.
‘This is encoded in single particles that are difficult to control and measure’.
Bristol researchers were able to link different chips together using quantum entanglement -allowing them to manipulate one particle and have it change its linked particle on the other chip
Dr. Llewellyn and the team have been able to create devices that can generate and manipulate single particles of light within programmable circuits.
The chips they created encode quantum information in light generated inside the circuits, they then process the information with high efficiency.
The team says that teleportation is not only useful for quantum communication but is a fundamental building block of quantum computing.
‘Establishing an entangled communication link between two chips in the lab however has proven to be highly challenging’, they said in a statement.
However, they said their new process will enable higher quality, faster quantum circuits and is one of the most efficient generated to date.
They were also able to show other functionality such as ‘swapping’, a process that is required for quantum networks to operate properly.
They were also able to show a process involving photon states that are needed for the creation of a quantum internet and in quantum computers.
Dr. Llewellyn says this is an important step that could lead to the creation of ‘more complex quantum circuits required in quantum computing and communications’.
Lead author, Dr. Jianwei Wang said: ‘In the future, integration of quantum photonic devices and classical electronic controls will open the door for fully chip-based CMOS-compatible quantum communication and information processing networks.’
The research was published in the journal Nature Physics.
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