{"id":37,"date":"2023-12-28T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T11:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/physicsworld.com\/?p=111900"},"modified":"2023-12-28T12:00:31","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T11:00:31","slug":"quantum-science-and-technology-highlights-of-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hadamard.com\/c\/quantum-science-and-technology-highlights-of-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantum science and technology: highlights of 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been another banner year for quantum science and technology, with academic research groups and tech firms celebrating significant achievements in quantum computing, quantum communications and quantum metrology as well as fundamental quantum science. Three of these advances \u2013 a quantum repeater that transmits quantum information over a distance of 50 km; a double-slit experiment in time; and a simulation of an expanding universe in a Bose-Einstein condensate \u2013 appeared in our list of the year\u2019s top 10 breakthroughs<\/a>, but with so many exciting things going on, we can\u2019t resist celebrating a few others. Here, in no particular order, are some highlights.<\/p>\n

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Joining the hardware dots<\/h3>\n

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Some innovations hit the headlines right away. Others lay the groundwork for future breakthroughs. In May, Johannes Fink<\/a> and colleagues at the Institute for Science and Technology Austria claimed a place in the second group by demonstrating a protocol for entangling microwave and optical photons<\/a>. This is important because the superconducting circuits that make up many of today\u2019s most advanced quantum computers operate at microwave frequencies, but the fibres and other equipment used to send information over long distances work at optical frequencies. If we want to build a network of many quantum computers and make them talk to each other, we will therefore need strong, reliably quantum connections between these two frequencies.<\/p>\n

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Now that Fink and his team have shown that such connections are possible, prospects for quantum networks based on superconducting qubits look rosier, though the protocol still needs refining. As one independent expert observed, \u201cWe should not think that this makes everything easy now \u2013 it\u2019s just the beginning, but that doesn\u2019t take away from the quality of the experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Photo<\/a>