A quantum network, or quantum internet, differs from our home, garden and kitchen internet and you could, for example, use to connect future quantum computers to each other or to create connections that cannot possibly be eavesdropped.
“I want as many people as possible to be able to use quantum networks as quickly as possible-even if they are not a quantum physics expert,” says professor Stephanie Wehner, of the Delft Quantum Institute Qutech. On 19 September she will receive the Körber European Science Prize of a million euros for her work on quantum networks and making it more accessible.
“All kinds of useful applications are conceivable,” says Wehner. “But I am the most enthusiastic about the new way of communicating it. I am very curious about what applications that will yield and we will look at it with both scientists and people outside the lab.”
Most quantum technologists come from physics. But you first worked at an internet provider, was an ethical hacker and studied computer science.
Wehner laughs. “For me it made sense. I have been fascinated for a long time by communication in the broadest sense – both between people and within computer networks – because it is complicated. That is why I went to work on classical communication networks after high school in the technical team of XS4all: internet connections. I did fun projects there in 1999, for example, in calling an encrypted internet connection.
“When this work started to be boring, I started studying computer science, with extra physics subjects. I realized that if quantum mechanics describes the world at the fundamental level, the ultimate form of communication than quantum communication is. That fascinated me. It is really interesting now, for example, a large -scale quantum bonding work was made. and The Hague. ”
What is a quantum network for?
“There are two options. You can send quantum messages by sending so -called quantum bits, or qubits. Classic bits with which normal computers and the internet work, are zero or one. A Qubit can go through the quantum mechanical phenomenon superposition at the same time in a combination of zero and one. Attempts immediately, and you can also show the connection that certain quantum information is deleted, for example, if your personal data, such as medical data.
“You can also make a connection where you do not send quubits, but create so-called entanglement between two nodes, each with their own quubits. That happened at the connection between Delft and The Hague. Entertainment is a special tire that shares two quubits with each other. It has two characteristic properties. First of all, entanglement. Quantum networks suitable for certain security applications.
“The other property is that it makes a degree of coordination possible that is classical impossible. If our quubits are entangled and we both do a measurement, then the results we find are correlated. For example, I measure that my quubit points to the right, then you also see that, even if we are very far from each other and this is not tackled. telescopes.
“A entitlement application that I find interesting, and where I work on Load Balancingwhere, for example, the demand from multiple consumers or devices must be adjusted to the supply in the electricity grid. ”
For example, could a quantum network prevent the recent large data breach of data from the population screening?
“Security of digital information is extremely complicated. I think complete safety does not exist. You can only protect information against certain attacks. That also applies to quantum protection. If this data was sent over a quantum connection of the population register to Clinical Diagnostis, then it would have been protected on the road. Even that is not completely safe in a data center.
Will quantum networks replace the regular internet?
“You can also send ordinary messages with it. But sending quubits is still difficult and the current internet is super advanced. That is why quantum networks will exist next to it for specific applications. If they are just as fast and advanced in the distant future, then we can switch. But I will not experience that anymore.”
Earlier this year, your research group came with Qnodeos, the first operating system for the Quantuminternet. What is the use of that?
“What motivates me is the translation to technology outside the physics lab. I do not want you not to be a quantum expert to program and run apps on quantum networks. For that you need a operating system, such as Windows or MacOS for ordinary computers. Control systems form the software or computer -chips) and computer -chips) and computer -chips) For quantum network – regardless of the underlying hardware – more accessible.
“If only quantum physicists can program these devices, they will determine what happens to it. You don’t want that. With the classic internet, the most fun and useful applications have been developed by people who wanted to solve their own problems or who played out for interest. That is why I think it is important to make this technology accessible as quickly as possible.”
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