Photons, the tiniest packets of electromagnetic energy, can carry information across quantum networks. Each photon has various properties, like path, polarization, and frequency, which can hold quantum information.
When photons are connected through entanglement, techniques like quantum teleportation are enabled. However, this connection is very sensitive to environmental conditions, which can cause errors.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers found that hyperentanglement (entangling multiple properties of two photons) can make communication more reliable. They created a new quantum gate that works with two properties of photons — polarization and frequency. This, combined with hyperentanglement, could reduce errors in quantum communication and help build future quantum networks.
ORNL’s Hsuan-Hao Lu said, “Imagine you have a horizontally polarized photon, which corresponds to a communication bit value of zero, for example. As it travels through fiber, its polarization could change randomly, introducing errors in communication. When combined with hyperentanglement, the techniques we developed here can potentially suppress these errors in a networking task.”
Researchers found that they could control hyperentanglement using a new type of quantum gate. This breakthrough improves communication within quantum networks and makes them more reliable.
“I really appreciate being on the top downloads list,” Lu said. “But there’s more work to do to get even better.”
The next step for this research is to deploy this new technology on ORNL’s quantum network.
Journal Reference:
- Hsuan-Hao Lu, Joseph M. Lukens, Muneer Alshowkan, Brian T. Kirby, and Nicholas A. Peters. Building a controlled-NOT gate between polarization and frequency. Optica Quantum. DOI: 10.1364/OPTICAQ.525837
Source: Tech Explorist
