{"id":186040,"date":"2025-10-08T18:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T18:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/186040\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T18:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T18:01:10","slug":"squeezed-light-might-be-the-secret-to-building-the-quantum-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/186040\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Squeezed light’ might be the secret to building the quantum internet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine a future where the internet isn\u2019t just fast, it\u2019s fundamentally different. Where information doesn\u2019t travel through cables in bits and bytes, but dances across space in entangled photons, instantaneously linking quantum computers continents apart. In this shimmering vision of tomorrow, the backbone of communication is no longer copper or fiber; it\u2019s quantum light<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the heart of this revolution is a peculiar phenomenon known as squeezed light, and a team of researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology believes it may be the key to unlocking scalable quantum networks<\/a>. Their latest study, led by Fermilab scientist Alexandru Macridin, marks a pivotal step toward building a quantum internet, one that could transform scientific research, cryptography, and computing itself.<\/p>\n

Quantum networks rely on entangled qubits: pairs of quantum bits that remain mysteriously connected, no matter how far apart they are. In quantum physics, entanglement is the ghostly thread that links particles across space, such that a change in one instantly affects the other. It\u2019s a phenomenon Einstein famously referred to as \u201cspooky action at a distance,\u201d and it forms the cornerstone of quantum communication<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But building a network out of these fragile threads is no easy feat. Fiber optic cables, the workhorses of modern communication, introduce signal loss and memory decoherence. Quantum information is delicate, easily disrupted by noise, delay, or even the act of measurement itself.<\/p>\n

A new way of entangling light and sound<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s where squeezed light comes into play.<\/p>\n

Squeezed light is a special state of light engineered to reduce quantum noise and enhance sensitivity. Think of it as tuning a radio to pick up the faintest signal in a storm of static. By manipulating the uncertainty in one property of light (say, its phase) while reducing it in another (like amplitude), scientists can create a beam that\u2019s exquisitely sensitive to quantum effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greater number of entangled pairs per light signal, the greater the entanglement distribution efficiency,\u201d Macridin explains. \u201cBut since entangled qubits readily decay, the entanglement generation rate is significant when you build this kind of thing. The more you create, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their new protocol, researchers use two types of optical encoding to prepare photons at distant locations. These light sources are sent to a central site, where they pass through a beam splitter; one beam is transmitted, and the other is reflected. When the beams recombine and are measured, quantum mechanics dictates that the light itself is destroyed, but it leaves behind multiple pairs of entangled qubits that stretch across long distances.<\/p>\n

Traditional entanglement swapping methods produce just one entangled pair per swap. But squeezed light changes the game. It enables scientists to entangle multiple qubits simultaneously, significantly increasing the efficiency of entanglement distribution.<\/p>\n

Macridin calculated that producing one extra entangled pair requires three decibels of squeezing. \u201cThis means that no more than three or four entangled qubit pairs can be produced using current technology because it only allows for squeezing up to 15 decibels of light,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n

Still, even this modest boost is a leap forward. With AQNET, Fermilab\u2019s quantum networking initiative, researchers are already reaching metropolitan-scale distances using fiber optics. \u201cThis new protocol is another step toward that goal,\u201d says Cristi\u00e1n Pe\u00f1a, who leads the AQNET project.<\/p>\n

What makes this protocol especially promising is its compatibility with existing hardware. Fermilab\u2019s entanglement swapping systems can be readily integrated into quantum repeaters, devices that extend entanglement across vast distances. These repeaters are crucial for building robust quantum networks<\/a>, which can link quantum computers, sensors, and communication nodes worldwide.<\/p>\n

So far, Macridin and his team have validated the protocol in ideal lab conditions. The next challenge is scaling it up, pushing the boundaries of squeezing technology, and deploying the system in real-world environments.<\/p>\n

The implications of this work ripple far beyond physics labs. Quantum networks could revolutionize secure communication, enabling unhackable encryption. They could connect quantum computers into vast, distributed systems capable of solving problems beyond the reach of classical machines. They might even allow scientists to simulate complex phenomena, from climate systems to molecular interactions, with unprecedented fidelity.<\/p>\n

In this future, photons won\u2019t just carry data, they\u2019ll carry entanglement, weaving together a web of quantum connections that defy classical limits.<\/p>\n

And it all begins with a whisper of squeezed light.<\/p>\n

Journal Reference:<\/p>\n

Alexandru Macridin, Andrew Cameron, Cristian Pena, Si Xie, Raju Valivarthi, and Panagiotis Spentzouris. Multiqubit entanglement generation with squeezed modes. Physical Review A. DOI: 10.1103\/PhysRevA.111.052610<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imagine a future where the internet isn\u2019t just fast, it\u2019s fundamentally different. Where information doesn\u2019t travel through cables…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[82052,1638,4960,4835,4635,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-186040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-fermilab","9":"tag-internet","10":"tag-light","11":"tag-quantum-information","12":"tag-qubits","13":"tag-technology","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}