QUANTCOM · Quantum communications with photons and atoms
FP6 — Marie Curie Actions (Human Resources and Mobility)
- Duration
- 2006-09-01 → 2008-02-29
- EU contribution
- €261,050
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- OIF
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Results in brief
Final Activity Report Summary - QUANTCOM (Quantum Communications with Photons and Atoms)
Quantum mechanics allows for the realisation of computation or communication tasks that are difficult or impossible with traditional methods of information processing. The field of quantum information has thus blossomed over the past years, driven by the prospect of exploiting capabilities from the quantum realm to accomplish such tasks. In particular, quantum communication aims to transmit quantum states between distant locations. Entanglement, which is related to the non-classical correlations that are possible between separated quantum states, is the main source to achieve such a purpose. Having at disposal nearly perfect entangled states between two distant sites opens the possibility to perform quantum cryptography or realise the faithful transfer of quantum states via quantum teleportation. Since long-distance communication would almost certainly be accomplished by a photonic channel the degree of entanglement, and thus the communication fidelity, decreased exponentially with the channel length due to unavoidable losses. The concept of quantum repeaters, which consisted of dividing the channel into many segments and operating cascaded entanglement connections, allowed overcoming of the exponential increase of resource and only led to a polynomial growth. Significantly, the required asynchronous preparation of the segment required efficient light-matter interfacing. This project led to the first experimental demonstration of a rudimentary segment of a quantum repeater and demonstrated for the first time the reversible mapping of photonic entanglement in and out of a quantum memory, which was a powerful ability for the quantum information science.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The field of Quantum Information has blossomed over the past few years, driven by the prospects to exploit capabilities from the quantum realm to accomplish computation or communication tasks that are difficult or impossible with traditional methods of in formation processing. This still young research area has swept physicists from a great variety of disciplines and is now at the interface between physics, information theory, computer science and engineering. The recent striking demonstrations of quantum key distribution protocols or quantum teleportation has raised huge interest, confirming the great potential of this field and the dramatic impact that quantum processes can have on information technology. The overall objective of this project is thus concerned with this innovative area of quantum communications, with a particular emphasis on the light-atoms interface required to achieve such purposes.In 2001, a novel approach for long-distance quantum communication was proposed by Duan, Lukin, Cirac and Zoller (DLCZ). This scalable scheme employs atomic ensembles, which can be addressed by laser pulses and single photon detection with not necessary very high efficiency. In the DLCZ protocol, quantum states can be transferred between atoms and photons and stored in atoms for a long time. The abroad phase of the project is mainly concerned by the experimental realization of the DLCZ protocol. During the return phase, the experience gained will be applied in a closely related purpose but in a rather different app roach.The multidisciplinary aspects of quantum information make this a very exciting area to work in, and they provide an excellent framework for the training of an independent research scientist. In addition to complementary competencies such as research management, this proposal will provide essential trainings in order to master a large and complete array of crucial theoretical and experimental skills for quantum physics.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE · PARISCoordinatorFrance
- CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PASADENACity levelUnited States
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union