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ELECTROLUMINESCENT DIAMONDS COULD SERVE AS THE HEART OF QUANTUM NETWORKS

Electroluminescent diamonds could serve as the heart of

quantum networks
By Jessica Hall (http://www.extremetech.com/author/jhall) on August 11, 2016 at 10:44 am
Comment (http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/233405-electroluminescent-diamonds-could-serve-as-the-heart-of-quantumnetworks#disqus_thread)

Quantum cryptography is hard we knew that. But researchers might have solved one of the
most challenging problems of quantum communications, by showing that diamonds can be used
as ultra-bright single photon emitters. This could bring us a big step closer to thedevelopment of
quantum computers (http://www.extremetech.com/tag/quantum-computing) and secure
communication lines that could operate at room temperature for the rst time.
Until now, quantum dots have been the closest weve come to real-world quantum cryptographic
ExtremeTech Newsletter
systems, and bit leakage isnt the only vulnerability in quantum cryptography
Subscribe Today to get the latest
(http://www.extremetech.com/computing/173898-the-nsa-is-building-a-quantum-computer-to-crackExtremeTechOther
newsarchitectures
delivered right
to your
encryption).
using
attenuated lasers have been susceptible to bit leakage by
inbox.
way of their tendency to emit multiple extra photons at a time, any of which could be intercepted
by
an eavesdropper
without the Sign
sender
Email
Address...
Upor recipient ever knowing. Butemitting more than one
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photon
at a time is fundamentally impossible with
their crystal architecture,according to researchers
More Fedyaninfrom
Articles
Dmitry
theLaboratory of Nanooptics
and Plasmonics at MIPT, and Mario Agio from the
University of Siegen.

(http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/233424will-the-navys-decade-long-experiment-with
railguns-yield-a-useful-weapon-system)

Will the Navys decade-long experiment with railguns

yield a useful weapon system?
(http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/233424-willthe-navys-decade-long-experiment-with-railgunsyield-a-useful-weapon-system) Aug11

(https://www.extremetech.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/08/Model_of_nitrogen-

vacancy_center_in_diamond.jpg)
(http://www.extremetech.com/computing/233400Point aws in nitrogen-doped diamond. Image: Materialscientist
microsoft-leaks-secure-boot-credentialsvia Wikipedia (https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?
demonstrates-why-backdoor-golden-keys-cantcurid=5591752)
work)
Their report
built on
thecredentials,
idea that shows
properly
Microsoft
leaksisSecure
Boot
whydoped diamonds can be grown in such a way as to
backdoor
golden
keys
cant
work
create a tiny, deliberate point aw called a color center. Diamonds arent all clear; the colored ones
(http://www.extremetech.com/computing/233400often include minute traces of other elements. In yellow diamonds, the color centers are single
microsoft-leaks-secure-boot-credentials-demonstratesdopant atoms (nitrogen) swapped in where a carbon atom should have been, which also makes a
why-backdoor-golden-keys-cant-work) Aug11
break in the lattice because of molecular geometry. These researchers got their results using
diamonds doped with nitrogen or silicon to create color centers, and therefore point aws, in the
crystal lattice.
(http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/233389Applying a low voltage to a diamond with one of these critical color centers makes each singlereport-apple-planning-major-macbook-proatom point aw act like a sort of electroluminescent ramp that throws off energy in the form of
refresh-with-amd-polaris-gpus-touchid-andphotons, singly and sequentially. Certain color centers can even serially emit two photons at two
oled-function-keys)
Report:
Apple
planning major
MacBook
Pro refresh
different
wavelengths,
from
two different
charge states, in a single act of electroluminescence.
with
AMD
Polaris
GPUs,
Touch
ID,
and
OLED
function
Getting a single photon out of a macroscale piece of diamond just hinges on manufacturing
keys (http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/233389tolerances, which are getting pretty good (http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/160458-how-toreport-apple-planning-major-macbook-pro-refreshwrite-with-single-atoms-on-the-cheap).
with-amd-polaris-gpus-touchid-and-oled-functionkeys) Aug10

(http://www.extremetech.com/deals/230241Ultrabright single-photon source on diamond with electrical pumping

ExtremeTech Newsletter
et-deals-dell-inspiron-3650-desktop-pc)
ET deals: Dell Inspiron 3650 quad-core desktop
Subscribe Today to get the latest
PC for $579
ExtremeTech news delivered right to your
(http://www.extremetech.com/deals/230241-etinbox.
deals-dell-inspiron-3650-desktop-pc)
Aug10

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Google
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MoreChrome
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(http://www.extremetech.com/internet/233383google-chrome-will-start-blocking-all-ash-contentnext-month) Aug10

(http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/233424will-the-navys-decade-long-experiment-with
railguns-yield-a-useful-weapon-system)

To give a sense of the network performance capabilities of such a diamond, lets start with this: a

qubit can be encoded in the polarization of a single photon. Photons also have the properties (and
Will the Navys decade-long experiment with railguns
yield a useful weapon system?
(http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/233424-willthe-navys-decade-long-experiment-with-railgunsyield-a-useful-weapon-system) Aug11

additional bit depth) of wavelength, amplitude, and frequency: the brightness and color of the light
(http://www.extremetech.com/computing/233400emitted can create extra bandwidth in the network. At the same time, diamonds are attractive
microsoft-leaks-secure-boot-credentialsbecause they work just ne at room temperature. But the researchers found that their throughput
demonstrates-why-backdoor-golden-keys-cantincreased as they heated their diamonds moving from 100,000 photons per second at SATP
work)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_conditions_for_temperature_and_pressure) to more than
Microsoft leaks Secure Boot credentials, shows why
100 million
photons
backdoor
golden
keysper
cantsecond
work at 200C. Our single-photon source is one of few, if not the only
(http://www.extremetech.com/computing/233400optoelectronic device that should be heated in order to improve its performance,Fedyanin said.
microsoft-leaks-secure-boot-credentials-demonstrateswhy-backdoor-golden-keys-cant-work)
Aug11
This could be a fundamental breakthrough
in

quantum communications, though building devices

that practically take advantage of these capabilities
is still years away. Previous single-photon
(http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/233389generation methods required extremely low
report-apple-planning-major-macbook-protemperatures to operate, meaning expensive and
refresh-with-amd-polaris-gpus-touchid-andbulky cooling equipment was a practical necessity.
oled-function-keys)
This discovery
wontmajor
magically
create
kind of
Report:
Apple planning
MacBook
Pro the
refresh
quantum
infrastructure
to make
use of
with
AMD Polaris
GPUs, Touch
ID, andpractical
OLED function
(https://www.extremetech.com/wpkeys
(http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/233389quantum cryptography
content/uploads/2016/08/hv.png)
report-apple-planning-major-macbook-pro-refresh(http://www.extremetech.com/tag/cryptography).
with-amd-polaris-gpus-touchid-and-oled-function(Credit: MIPT)
But it could prove a vital step in creating that
keys) Aug10
infrastructure and offer a practical method for absolutely securing communications in ways no
CPU or group of CPUs on Earth could crack.

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