Quantum Bridge of Light ⚡ экспресс
Superconducting quantum processors with hundreds of qubits have been demonstrated, but further scaling is constrained by the size and cooling capacity of dilution refrigerators. The solution: a quantum network linking qubits in separate cryostats via microwave-to-optical converters for low-loss transmission. Despite progress on efficient, low-noise converters, coherent photonic links between cryostats were missing. This work demonstrates for the first time coherent signal transmission between two superconducting circuits in different cryostats using a pair of frequency-matched aluminum nitride electro-optic converters and a 1-km optical fiber. With efficiency exceeding 0.1% per node, an 80-dB improvement over commercial modulators was achieved, paving the way for quantum communication lines and establishing design principles for scalable photonic quantum networks.
Each quantum processor is an island in a sea of ultra-low temperatures. It communicates via a microwave whisper, which fades after a couple of centimeters—thermal noise drowns it out. To connect two such islands, physicists built a bridge: on both sides they placed converter crystals, tuned to the same frequency, and between them laid a kilometer of optical fiber, just like in regular internet cables. The crystal turns microwaves into red light, which races through the fiber at the speed of light, and at the distant shore, a second crystal turns it back into the whisper—exactly the original. The quantum essence remained unharmed.
The conversion efficiency is only 0.1%, but the whisper from a kilometer away becomes a hundred million times louder than without the bridge. Thus, scattered quantum islands weave together into a single network—the quantum internet.
🎯 Light travels a kilometer in 3 microseconds—faster than the blink of an eye.
🎬 This quantum bridge is like the ansible from science fiction: it connects not planets, but quantum processors.