In a research led by scientists from Princeton University, scientists created diamonds that contain defects capable of storing and transmitting quantum information for use in a future “quantum internet”, according to a press release.
Essentially, micro-messages called “qubits” have commonly been stored and sent through particles of light (or photons). However, the method only works for short distances before the information becomes distorted. The synthetic diamonds’ flaws, the researchers say, “can take and store quantum information in the form of electrons for relatively long periods of time and link it efficiently to photons”. In other words, they might hold the key to a new type of highly secure communications over long distances.
The researchers partnered with Element Six, an industrial diamond manufacturing company, as well as experts at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). According to Ania Bleszynski Jayich, a physics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, quoted in Science Daily, the success of the experiment “is likely to inspire a more comprehensive and extensive search across a larger cross-section of material and defect candidates”.
