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'Quantum Internet' breakthrough


Render

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(Phys.org) —Researchers at TU Delft in the Netherlands have managed to bring two electrons, three meters from each other, into a quantum- entangled state. This result marks a major step towards realizing a quantum network that can be used to connect future quantum computers and to send information in a completely secure way by means of 'teleportation'. The results have been published online on April 24 in Nature

http://phys.org/news...te-network.html

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Well, three meters is an achievement, but isn't the hundreds or even thousands of km. that will be needed to do what you say. I think standard cryptographic methods, in spite of their theoretical vulnerability, will be around awhile.

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Even if and when they do get a viable, functioning quantum network going (if it's even possible)... There will be some knucklehead who figures out how to hack it and intercept the data transfer... so the need for encryption will be here for as long as there are at least three people still living on the planet...

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Even if and when they do get a viable, functioning quantum network going (if it's even possible)... There will be some knucklehead who figures out how to hack it and intercept the data transfer... so the need for encryption will be here for as long as there are at least three people still living on the planet...

Yeah, but once it is encrypted via quantum computing I don't think anyone will be hacking it anytime soon.

'The vision of quantum computing is to enable computers to do "millions of computations at once" with a single qubit. According to IBM, a 250-qubit system "contains more bits of information than there are atoms in the universe.'

http://www.tomshardw...ters,14832.html

And, Frank, if IBM are correct in saying that they just about have the quantum computer licked (which they very-well might not be), then that will be the end of current, bit-based encryption methods.

Edited by ExpandMyMind
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The idea of using entangled particles to send secrets is that if anyone reads the message the entanglement is broken and you know it has been read. Using quantum computers for encryption is a different matter.

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this stuff is way over my head!

th_00b1c505.gif

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Well, three meters is an achievement, but isn't the hundreds or even thousands of km. that will be needed to do what you say. I think standard cryptographic methods, in spite of their theoretical vulnerability, will be around awhile.

The authors create the entanglement between the two electrons with light. It is currently possible (but difficult) to maintain photon entanglement over a hundred km or so. I am not sure what the current state of the art is for carrying entangled photons alone fibre optics (here is a review, but it is 5 years old) but it may not be so far off.

I was under the impression that the major obstacle was preserving entanglement in the electrons for any significant period of time. As I see it (I could be wrong) entanglement is an even more ``fragile'' problem then simply manipulating electron spin, so I think that on-chip devices are the major hurdle.

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There will always be hackers no matter how strong the Enecryption gets

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This is entanglement, not encryption. It is not code breaking, just a way of knowing whether or not the message was intercepted. Once broken there would be utterly no way to hide it.

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Government Lab Reveals It Has Operated Quantum Internet for Over Two Years

A quantum internet capable of sending perfectly secure messages has been running at Los Alamos National Labs for the last two and a half years, say researchers

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514581/government-lab-reveals-quantum-internet-operated-continuously-for-over-two-years/

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@Render Since like there 3 capable quantum computers and they don't come cheap

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