Quantum internet with atomic memories

• Grant number: 21/06535-0
• Support type: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Duration: January 01, 2022 - December 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics
• Cooperation agreement: MCTI/MC
• Principal researcher: Daniel Felinto Pires Barbosa
• Grantee: Daniel Felinto Pires Barbosa
• Home Institution: CENTRO CIENCIAS EXATAS NATUREZA/UFPE
• Pesquisadores principais: José Wellington Rocha Tabosa
• Assoc. researchers: Eulises Alejandro Fonseca Parra ; Fernando Roberto de Luna Parisio Filho ; Gabriel da Cruz Borba de Andrade ; Hilma Helena Macedo de Vasconcelos ; Joao Batista Rosa Silva ; João Carlos de Aquino Carvalho ; Kleber Zuza Nobrega ; Lucio Hora Acioli ; Marcelo Martinelli ; Marcio Heraclyto Gonçalves de Miranda ; Michelle Oliveira de Araújo ; Nadja Kolb Bernardes ; Paulo Alberto Nussenzveig ; Rafael Chaves Souto Araujo ; Rubens Viana Ramos ; Sandra Sampaio Vianna ; Stephen Patrick Walborn

Abstract

The present project aims to develop technologies that enable the implementation of a quantum internet. The quantum internet will be a quantum network, eventually of global reach, connecting various sites to implement quantum protocols between them. Examples of simple protocols are the quantum distribution of cryptographic keys and the quantum teleportation, which involves the transmission of arbitrary quantum states between remote sites. The possibility to store and process information locally in the network sites may lead to the development of protocols still more powerful and robust. The idea of a quantum internet was energized considerably in the last years due to the Chinese success in implementing the distribution of quantum entanglement on a global scale, between Europe and China, using a satellite developed specifically for this purpose. In this way, the ideal of long-distance quantum communication became a reality, with still completely unexplored consequences. The present project is part of the current backdrop of idealization and development of prototypes of hardware for this quantum internet in the making. It aims to contribute to different fronts. A first front is the development of quantum memories coupled to light that would allow the storage and manipulation of information in material media, e its subsequent transmission trough optical channels. Among our goals is, for example, the implementation of a material quantum memory compatible to the photons transmitted by the Chinese satellites. In a second front, we aim to advance on the scaling up of local quantum networks, already involving atomic memories quantically entangled to light fields. In this line, we intend to map not only the problem's technical challenges (like efficiency of the memories, purity of the quantum states, decoherence), but also its conceptual challenges (like how to understand and operate with quantum states and processes of growing complexity). In a third front, we aim to implement communication protocols of increasing complexity as the scale of our network increases. The idea in this front is to understand the needs for specific applications designed for such networks, in order to tailor the experimental development to this end. In the same way, in this line we also aim to contribute to the theory itself of quantum networks, trying to stablish its potential for multiple problems and eventual limitations. In a last front, we aim also to develop specific hardware for our networks, like more compact atomic traps, cheaper and more stable diode lasers, and infrastructure for distribution and locking of optical phases between remote sites. Finally, the possibilities of application of quantum information are enormous, but also enormous are the challenges to explore this potential. Presently, for the development of the quantum internet, there is a lot of room to explore different technologies and physical processes. We hope, with this project, to contribute to this challenge and bring to Brazil, in a very concrete way, the discussion about the development and possibilities of the future quantum internet. (AU)