Optical loss budgets...even in quantum networks

It's nice to know you are not alone when trying to manage the optical loss budget issues.

But don’t you worry, recent news from the US Army research center based in Illusbruck show that even quantum networks have to worry about optical loss budgets. Recently, a US Army research center, part of the US Combat Capability Development Center, announced a successful transfer, using quantum entanglement, of information between matter and light, achieving a distance of 50kms, more than doubling the previous best efforts.

I just have to stop for a moment. I confess to being somewhat in awe of the technology behind this. Using lasers, the researchers wrote quantum information onto a physical object (a calcium atom) then excited the atom enough to emit a photon of light, with the quantum information replicated into the photon.  This is then distributed using a fibre optic network to remote locations, and read and mapped back onto a calcium atom. Just like long-life milk in your fridge, calcium atoms are able to be stored for much longer than a photon, with a much simpler fridge. These calcium atomic masses form the 'end stations' of a virtual quantum network, allowing incredibly secure and virtual communications links at a later date.

This US Army announcement was the first successful demonstration of achieving quantum entanglement over distances equivalent to a traditional Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN), and they did so by utilizing the lower loss characteristics of 1550nm. 850nm stays in the realm of short haul connection, more than ever I am convinced it shold be constrained to the DC or Comms room, but that is another story...

Just one question. What the hell is the record book going to look like for these new fangled ‘quantum telecoms exchange’?

Can I just ask you tie the pencil to it? The bloody pencil always goes missing.......

#bloggingtips #WixBlog