Physicists from Tsinghau University in China, have created world’s first Quantum Router. The router makes a quantum photon from two separate photons in different polarized states and therefore is able to route one qubit of data at a time, this is limiting but is only the beginning. More after the break.
The following statement was issued by the scientists working on the experiment:
We report an experiment that demonstrates full function of a quantum router using entangled photons, where the paths of a single-photon pulse are controlled in a coherent fashion by polarization of another single photon. Through a projective measurement, we prepare the polarization of the control photon in arbitrary superposition states, leading to coherent routing of the target photon in quantum superposition of different paths. We demonstrate quantum nature of this router through optical measurements based on quantum state tomography and show an average fidelity of 93.24% for the quantum routing operation.
If you weren’t able to get a single word from the statement above, trust me, you are not the only one. However, what this advancement means is that we are moving towards highly scalable systems using powerful quantum computers, unbreakable quantum cryptography and the quantum internet that will distribute these capabilities round the planet.
Source: Technology Review
