«QUANTUM TELEPORTATION»: A New Technological Breakthrough

Photo by Prateek Kochar on Unsplash

For the first time, quantum computing has come close to being applied on a scale previously considered unattainable. Physicists from the University of Oxford have developed a technology for distributed quantum computing — «quantum teleportation» — based on a photonic network interface. An extraordinary breakthrough awaits us in a wide range of fields, as this innovation enables the solution of computational problems that were once entirely out of reach.

QUANTUM PHYSICS — MADE SIMPLE!

For someone without a physics degree, understanding this subject isn’t easy. But it’s not as hard as it seems. Albert Einstein used to remind his fellow scientists: if you can’t explain your theory in simple terms, you probably don’t understand it well enough yourself. His reproach was taken seriously. Since Einstein’s time, science popularizers have achieved remarkable success in making complex ideas accessible to the general public.

Nevertheless, quantum physics still seems to many like «something that just can’t be real». Describing the world at the level of elementary particles, it operates according to laws that contradict the rules of the macroscopic world. The quantum realm is ruled by the uncertainty principle, formulated by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg.

He discovered that measuring one parameter precisely automatically reduces the accuracy of measuring another. But until you start your measurements, a particle remains in «superposition» — existing in multiple states at once.

Moreover, particles don’t exist «on their own» — even when they are in different places, they remain part of a unified system. The interdependence of their states is known as quantum entanglement.

QUANTUM COMPUTER AND «PARALLEL WORLDS»

Quantum computers are designed precisely to use what classical computers cannot: the superposition of particles and their quantum entanglement. Quantum bits, or qubits, can simultaneously take on the values of both logical zero and one.

According to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics proposed by American physicist Hugh Everett, it is possible to assume that a quantum computer performs calculations across many «parallel universes» at once. However, this is not merely a brute-force search through all possible answers.

If we imagine a qubit as a kind of «wave of probabilities», then a quantum computer is a device for controlling the amplitudes of those probabilities. This opens up vast possibilities for studying the laws of the Universe.

Especially if we accept the idea that the Universe itself is a quantum computer — unimaginably vast and constantly computing its own existence.

A QUANTUM SMARTPHONE? YOU’LL HAVE TO WAIT A LITTLE LONGER!

Before diving into the mind-blowing scenarios of the future promised by quantum technologies, we need to mention a few objective limitations. For those dreaming of personal quantum computers or smartphones, patience will be essential.

The culprit is particle «decoherence» — particles are not particularly inclined to work diligently for the benefit of humanity; they constantly try to interact with their environment and leak information into the outside world. For this reason, maintaining a coherent superposition across a system of qubits is no easy task.

Such a system must not only be completely isolated from the outside world but also cooled to extremely low temperatures. As you can imagine, it’s impossible to create such conditions in a private apartment — let alone in a smartphone case. That kind of setup requires substantial resources from major corporations and governments.

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QUANTUM SUPREMACY: THE TECHNOLOGY OF «PREDICTION»

Today, the global leaders in quantum technology are the United States and China. The UK, Canada, Israel, and Russia are also actively participating in the quantum race. Microsoft, IBM, and Google have each, at different times, announced plans to build «the world’s most powerful quantum computer». The leadership constantly shifts.

Currently, it’s Google. The company has developed a processor that takes just over 3 minutes to perform calculations that would take «Summit», the world’s most powerful supercomputer, around 10,000 years. But the point is not just «quantum advantage», meaning faster computations.

We’re talking about «quantum supremacy». This term was coined in 2012 by California Institute of Technology professor John Preskill to describe the ability to perform quantum computations that are practically impossible for a classical computer within a reasonable timeframe.

This supremacy also lies in memory usage, which collectively opens the door to predicting physical phenomena that were previously beyond reach.

A NEW BREAKTHROUGH IN «QUANTUM TELEPORTATION»

Of course, quantum computing technology is still in its early stages. Experts compare its current level to where artificial intelligence stood in the 2010s. Nevertheless, it seems humanity is steadily moving toward an extraordinary breakthrough in this field as well.

At the University of Oxford, researchers have announced that they’ve found a way to scale quantum computing — precisely the hurdle that has long stood in the way of building a full-fledged quantum computing industry, akin to that of classical computers.

Previously, processing millions of qubits required integrating numerous processors within a single device, resulting in quantum computers of considerable size. At Oxford, this challenge has been overcome through a method known as «quantum teleportation». Using a photonic network interface, they linked two separate quantum processors into a single system.

A BRAVE NEW WORLD

There have been successful experiments with teleportation before, but now, for the first time, scientists have managed to teleport fundamental quantum algorithm operations over a network connection. This means that, in theory, the number of processors in such a network could be unlimited, with computations distributed among small quantum devices.

Essentially, we are one step away from creating a «quantum internet» and other astonishing developments. The blockchain industry and traditional mining may be transformed beyond recognition, challenged by the so-called Grover’s algorithm. Compared to classical methods, it offers quadratic speedup in data search tasks.

At Oxford, researchers have already tested their invention on Grover’s algorithm — the distributed approach significantly expanded the boundaries of quantum computing, whose potential applications are vast: scientific research, complex system modeling, chemistry, pharmacology, machine learning, finance, cryptography, logistics, and much more.

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