Quantum Communication Speeds Up Nearly Five Times ⚡ экспресс
Scientists have for the first time sped up the creation of a quantum link between two devices by sending light in batches—as if dispatching ten couriers instead of just one. This let them achieve a 4.6× speed boost and 96% accuracy over 1.2 km. Picture this: ten messengers dash off at once, and the connection is made as soon as the first one arrives.
Regular quantum communication is like a postal service that sends letters strictly one at a time. If the route is long, you have to wait an indecently long time for a reply. Physicists sped up the process by dispatching ten 'postal trucks' — light pulses — into a single optical fiber, but in different time windows. In the experiment, two ions (charged atoms) in traps connected by a 1.2 km cable each received ten photons per cycle. This allowed them to create entanglement 4.59 times faster, with 95.9% accuracy.
This approach is like a construction set: you can add new ion nodes, and the network will speed up, bringing us closer to secure communication and distributed computing.
🎯 Without the ten-channel trick, entangling two charged atoms over a kilometer-long fiber would take minutes — about as long as it takes to brew a cup of coffee. Now it all happens in the time it takes you to blink.
🎬 The idea of instantaneous communication via entanglement underpins the plot of Liu Cixin's novel 'Through the Stars', where the heroes attempt to communicate with deep space without delay.