Yesterday we learned that a quantum research institute based in Delft, the Netherlands, and called QuTech , had successfully connected a total of three separate quantum processors, thus becoming the world’s first multi-node quantum network, being able to pave the way to what in the future could be a quantum Internet on a larger scale.
This is an ambition that scientists and authorities around the world have been pursuing for years. In fact, in mid-2020, we learned that the US Department of Defense had published the first plan of its kind, in which document it established a progressive strategy with the idea of having, in a preliminary way, a quantum Internet in the future. far away. But what is it, what does it consist of and what uses could it have?
What exactly is the quantum internet?
In research laboratories around the world, scientists are currently working on a new generation of computers: quantum computers . Thus, while traditional computers reach achievable performances with the help of their microprocessors and their data encoded in binary digits, the quantum version works with “ qubit ”, which would consist of quantum bits.
In other words, qubits are superconductors that do not comply with the classical laws of physics, and that can even be in several places at the same time. This offers the possibility of carrying out calculations in parallel, in a non-sequential and simultaneous way .
This basically means that it would help solve almost insoluble equations for traditional computing . And, furthermore, they would do it with certainly amazing speed.
By increasing the computing potential of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, future quantum computers could help revolutionize many industrial sectors, from industry to chemistry, computer security, energy, and transport and traffic management. , just to cite a few examples.
What are the uses of the quantum Internet?
Experts believe that quantum computing can be extremely helpful in creating a completely new communications system . It would be a kind of quantum internet, in which the information would be encoded and shared in qubits .
As with the current Internet, it should offer the possibility for computers around the world to interact with each other, with the difference that quantum computers would be connected in a network.
In this way, we would find ourselves in front of computers capable of working together simultaneously , in order to try to solve problems in practically all areas, in addition to offering ultra-secure communication , with significantly higher performance and speed in the transport of goods. data.
It would help to achieve greater security, since communications would be unalterable , something that does not always happen with the networks we use today. This is because the system would make it possible to make the information confidential and not modifiable by a hacker, since the exchange of information would be safe and completely safe.
As you can imagine, the possibilities are endless. From the transmission of quantum information over long distances without resorting to reliable but vulnerable nodes, to the existence of a ” secure cloud “, in which the users of the server could not see the data of other users.
And it is thanks to the qubits that would allow the data to be transported from one point to another not only almost instantaneously, but without alterations. And that is why scientists are even talking about “quantum teleportation” .
But one of the main advantages comes from the hand of a quantum internet in motion , since it would allow the creation, storage and movement of information with enormous ease, without the typical limitations that we still find in conventional networks, such as loss of packets, transmission errors and, above all, slowness.
Although everything may seem like a utopia, the truth is that in reality we are facing a network that is already under construction . What’s more, most experts believe that a first version of this network would be available by 2024-2025, in the purest qubit style. And we already know how quickly time passes …
