Quantum Internet - what is it like, how it works? Benefits. Quantum network

Recent studies, implemented by European and Russian scientists, have shown that the movement of quantum and classical information can successfully coexist within the boundaries of the same fiber-optic data transmission lines. This gives an opportunity in the future for a gradual transition from the usual Internet, to the network based on the paradoxes of elementary particles, the quantum Internet network.

Accelerate in research

The computer industry is brewing a coup. Physicists from the University of Pennsylvania said that in four years the usual silicon chips will reach their limit. Reduce them further will not be possible, so ordinary computers have to live not long.

They will be replaced by fundamentally new technologies, quantum computers. Instead of chips there will be elementary particles. Due to this, it is possible to sharply reduce the size and increase the productivity. While these prototypes do not work faster than a weak computer, it's just a matter of time. In turn, using the most powerful potential, it will be possible to solve problems and difficulties more quickly when introducing a fundamentally new, quantum Internet.

Mysteries of the quantum Internet

How does the quantum Internet work? What is it and what is its essence? The difference is that it is based on the laws of quantum mechanics. It was perceived by scientists as a hot, sharp area, which can be used to describe phenomena that are not fully understood. One of them is the photoelectric effect.

Paradoxes of quantum physics in the service of humanity

Today it is clear: in our near future will enter such a phenomenon as the quantum Internet. What can it bring to us or how will it be? Perhaps this will be another leap, similar to the introduction of semiconductor transistors in the past.

Its principle is based on the property of superposition and quantum entanglement. He does not have a certain spin and when measuring one, the second shows the opposite. For a more complete understanding, this means that each elementary particle carrying information is invisibly associated with its "tangled" pair. And the distance between them does not play any role, the information is transmitted instantly.

Using these anomalous laws, there are huge opportunities in the speed and privacy of data transmission. It is impossible to intercept the information sent this way, left undetected: any reading leaves traces, or destroys the initial information.

Speed is faster than thought

As for the latest data on the measurement of the data transfer rate, they are amazing for our imagination. It exceeds the speed of light ten thousand times. But, most likely, scientists in the future will find that the signal transmission rate is much higher than previously defined, such is the quantum Internet. What does it mean? What can we give it? Perhaps, the transmission of signals to previously unthinkable distances in space and new discoveries.

New technologies in photons

In the technology of converting photons into a carrier of information, Russian scientists have found use of artificially grown crystals, namely diamonds. It turns out that when light passes through crystals, it acquires the property of a liquid and begins to form droplets, vortices, waves. It can be sent by any channels. In general, behaves like a liquid. Including it can spread at a very slow rate or even stop.

This is very interesting on the one hand and very important, because it allows you to manipulate the light and do anything, including, to get such a phenomenon as a quantum Internet network. This allows it to be used as an information transfer agent. Now its main carrier is an electric charge. But this is an imperfect object. Therefore, any movement or acceleration of electric charge leads to energy losses that go into the environment and heat the processor and chip elements.

The Internet itself is already more than 5% of the energy it produces. Therefore, replacing an electron with photons in an ideal variant will lead to a reduction in the loss of colossal amounts of energy. Accordingly, the cost of the Internet itself will drop.

Quantum Internet in Russia

Work in Russia on the quantum Internet is unique. Despite the small funding and all kinds of obstacles, the scientists conducted enough experiments and achieved in this area actually the leading position. As a result, it was possible to create a unique, high-level institution. It combines experimental and theoretical groups, as well as applied research. This institution is partly financed by Gazprombank, partly by the state in various forms. In any case, this is an example that Russian science must follow without stopping at anything.

We conquer new territories

At the current stage of the development of the quantum Internet, one can name only data protection technologies with the help of quantum cryptography. Such networks today are fairly simple point-to-point connections. Scientists seek to create joint solutions, on the basis of which different channels and methods of encryption are combined.

If you follow the implementation of the idea, the results of Russian researchers will be more significant. One example is the detector of a single-photon emitter, developed at the Kurchatov Institute.

For the existence of such an opening as a quantum Internet network, scientists need to solve the difficulties of combining special equipment for quantum data transmission and existing telecommunications networks.

The main issues lie in the solution of switching and signal amplification. If you send information on the basis of a quantum, according to the standard fiber, it will not pass through the regenerator. Therefore, one solution is to convert the signal into an electrical signal and then return to its original position.

Today, the limit is three hundred kilometers. This is the distance on which it is necessary to regenerate the optical signal. You also need a prototype quantum switch. The total amount of problematic problems can be solved only within ten years. Nevertheless, scientists say about the possibility of "saddling" the quantum Internet. What can this bring and how to help? Today there is no unambiguous answer, but solving the issue of introducing and bringing such technologies to the ordinary citizen will definitely improve his quality of life and safety.

A new era is coming

China today has set an ambitious project, to make a transmission on a quantum network for 1200 kilometers, using a satellite. At the moment, a distance of a maximum of 100 kilometers has been reached. Scientists have developed how to protect the signal from the effects of meteorological conditions. However, this sensation is more likely not related to teleportation, which is increasing every year, but with quantum cryptography, in other words, a new data encryption system.

The quantum code does not have the ability to crack, more accurately when it breaks the information disappears. In the era of cyberwar this means invulnerability. For a long time, those who seek security guarantees have been using quantum cryptography for a long time. As, for example, a few years ago Swiss banks began to exchange data about their customers through a quantum network. For today they are limited to a distance of several tens of kilometers. The same system is being prepared to introduce the Russian Quantum Center, as well as to master the transfer of a quantum signal through a satellite.

Implementation and implementation

And at this time in St. Petersburg, between the two buildings of the university in Russia, launched the first quantum Internet network. Information is transmitted using the laws of quantum physics. The smartest corporations and governments are now investing in this area. The future technology of information transfer is being implemented on the basis of the existing one. Fiber optic cable, a familiar computer, but a new router and photon generator.

The existence of a new Internet begins with a laser, where the source of single photons is located. They have a good property in order to transmit information in a protected way. A single photon can not be divided. The key is formed in such a way that reading is not possible. To convert a photon into a storage medium, the system changes its state, the phase of oscillation of the impulse wave. Today, the level of development of quantum technology is comparable to what the mobile communication looked like thirty years ago, it will take another five to ten years and photon quanta will be able to give us a secure Internet information.

Quantum Internet in Kazan

In Tatarstan, a quantum Internet network was launched, its experimental site is located in Kazan. This program is an important achievement in the development of quantum communication in Russia. According to scientists, it is absolutely invulnerable to hacker attacks.

Today, the protection of our Internet network is based on the encryption of mathematical algorithms, but even the most complex code can be hacked. The more powerful the computing abilities of hackers, the easier and faster to calculate the encryption algorithm.

The technology described in the article will become a new network security structure. Quantum Internet in Kazan will be united into four nodes at a distance of 30-40 kilometers from each other. The cost of equipment between two points is about one hundred thousand dollars. On the experimental site, the network showed a quantum Internet speed of 117kb / c with a distance of two and a half kilometers. This result is an order of magnitude higher than in European trials. In the network, the transmission loss of quantum bits in an optical channel was twenty dB. This is equivalent to a line length of one hundred kilometers. It is worth noting that the current project involves the operating line of the telecommunications infrastructure network "Tattelecom".

The network connects cities

In 2017, it is planned to start a project to introduce a new technology. Quantum Internet in Tatarstan will allow to connect offices in different cities. This is one of the most important tasks that Kazan Analytical Center KNITU-KAI and its head set themselves. Watching their successes, without a doubt, it is believed that it will be so.