Quantum Internet May Become a Reality

Do you think you have slow Internet access with DSL, cable, broadband, or satellite? Do you have internet speeds of 3, 6, 1Artwork: Chip Taylor2, or even 20Mbps? If you still think your Internet access is slow, then quantum Internet may be right for you. And that is exactly what physicists at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics are trying to create.

The physicists have invented what they are calling a "quantum transistor." A traditional transistor is a semiconductor device which amplifies a signal, or opens or closes a circuit. Transistors are in about every known electronic out there and form a vital portion of your pc when it comes to computing speed.

What makes the quantum transistor so special is that it uses the properties of quantum physics in which particles can communicate across open space without ever touching. In this case the quantum transistor uses one beam of light to control the properties of another, meaning that "information" can travel (or be transferred) from point A to point B without ever making the trek.

A similar quantum mechanical transistor, the Double Electron Layer Tunneling Transistor (DELTT), has been developed by the Sandia development team, a laboratory of the Department of Energy (DOE). According to Sandia, the device is capable of running at a trillion operations per second, or roughly ten times the speed of the fastest transistor circuits currently in use.

You can see where this spooky physics could drastically improve the speed of Internet communication and computing. With groups like Sandia and the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, the quantum internet and computing age may be just around the corner.

[Via IEEE]