Researchers from the Yokohama National University, a leading national university located in Yokohama, Japan, have successfully teleported quantum information within the confines of a diamond.
The study, published in the latest edition of the journal Communications Physics, “has big implications for quantum information technology – the future of how sensitive information is shared and stored”, according to a press release.
Diamond – The Perfect Vehicle
According to Hideo Kosaka, a professor of engineering at Yokohama National University and an author on the study, “quantum teleportation permits the transfer of quantum information into an otherwise inaccessible space” as well as “the transfer of information into a quantum memory without revealing or destroying the stored quantum information”.
Carbon atoms in diamonds are made of linked, yet individually contained, carbon atoms, essentially meaning that diamond have “the perfect ingredients for quantum teleportation”. Surrounded by carbon atoms, the nucleus structure of the nitrogen atom creates what Kosaka calls a nanomagnet.
Kosaka and the team attached a wire about a quarter the width of a human hair to the surface of a diamond. They applied a microwave and a radio wave to the wire to build an oscillating magnetic field around the diamond. They shaped the microwave to create the optimal, controlled conditions for the transfer of quantum information within the diamond.
To make a complicated story simpler, Kosaka then used the nitrogen nanomagnet to anchor an electron, and then forced the electron spin to entangle with a carbon nuclear spin. The electron spin breaks down under a magnetic field created by the nanomagnet, allowing it to become susceptible to entanglement. Once the two pieces are entangled, a photon which holds quantum information is applied and the electron absorbs the photon.
“Our ultimate goal is to realize scalable quantum repeaters for long-haul quantum communications and distributed quantum computers for large-scale quantum computation and metrology”, Kosaka concluded.
