Not only do optical fibers transmit information every day
around the world at the speed of light, but they can also be harnessed for the
transport of quantum information. In the current issue of Nature Photonics, a
research team of Innsbruck physicists led by Rainer Blatt and Tracy Northup
report how they have directly transferred the quantum information stored in an
atom onto a particle of light. Such information could then be sent over optical
fiber to a distant atom.
Thanks to the strange laws of quantum mechanics, quantum
computers would be able to carry out certain computational tasks much faster
than conventional computers. Among the most promising technologies for the
construction of a quantum computer are systems of single atoms, confined in
so-called ion traps and manipulated with lasers.