中国科学家刚刚将量子记忆纠缠了50多公里

中国科学家刚刚将量子记忆纠缠了50多公里

Scientists have managed to get two quantum memories entangled over 50 kilometres (31 miles) of fibre optic cables, almost 40 times the previous record.

科学家们成功地使两个量子记忆缠结在50公里(31英里)长的光纤电缆上，几乎是之前记录的40倍。

This achievement makes the idea of a super-fast, super-secure quantum internet a much more plausible one.

这一成就使得超快、超安全的量子互联网的想法更加可信。

Quantum communication relies on quantum entanglement, or what Einstein called 'spooky action at a distance': where two particles become inextricably linked and reliant on each other, even if they're not in the same place.

量子通信依赖于量子纠缠，即爱因斯坦所说的“鬼魅般的远距离作用”：两个粒子不可避免地联系在一起，相互依赖，即使它们不在同一个地方。

Quantum memory is the quantum equivalent of classical computing memory – the ability to store quantum information and keep it for a later time – and if we're going to get to the stage where quantum computers are actually practical and useful, getting this fixed memory working is an important part.

量子存储器是经典计算的等效量子记忆储存量子信息的能力和保持它在稍后的时间,如果我们要到达阶段,量子计算机实际上是实际的和有用的,得到这个固定的内存工作的一个重要组成部分。

The main significance of this paper lies in extending the entangling distance in [optical] fibre between quantum memories to the city scale, team leader Jian-Wei Pan, of the University of Science and Technology of China, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“这篇论文的主要意义在于将量子记忆之间的光纤纠缠距离扩展到城市规模。”中国科技大学的研究组组长潘建伟告诉澳大利亚广播公司。Despite enormous progress, at present the maximal physical separation achieved between two nodes is 1.3 kilometres [0.8 miles], and challenges for longer distances remain, explain the researchers in their published paper.

研究人员在他们发表的论文中解释道:“尽管取得了巨大的进步，但目前两个节点之间最大的物理距离是1.3公里(0.8英里)，更远距离的挑战仍然存在。”

As far as communicating that data goes, quantum technology promises to improve transmission speeds and secure the data transfers using the laws of physics themselves – provided we can get it working in a reliable way over long distances.

就数据通信而言，量子技术承诺利用物理定律提高传输速度，保证数据传输的安全——前提是我们能让它在长距离可靠地工作。

A quantum internet that connects remote quantum processors should enable a number of revolutionary applications such as distributed quantum computing, write the researchers in their published paper. "Its realisation will rely on entanglement of remote quantum memories over long distances."

研究人员在他们发表的论文中写道:“一个连接远程量子处理器的量子互联网应该能够实现许多革命性的应用，比如分布式量子计算。”“它的实现将依赖于远程量子记忆的纠缠。”

The research has been published in Nature.

这项研究发表在《自然》杂志上。