
Delft scientists make first “on demand” entanglement link - amelius
https://www.tudelft.nl/en/2018/tu-delft/delft-scientists-make-first-on-demand-entanglement-link/
======
radarsat1
"Entanglement forms the link that will provide a future quantum internet" \--
gee, if it was hard to explain to people that entanglement doesn't break the
speed limit by transmitting information instantaneously _before_.. yeah we're
going to need a simple go-to explanation of what this actually is and how it
works.

~~~
hannob
Here's your simple go-to explanation: The quantum internet is a buzzword to
extract research money from EU programs. It has no relevance whatsoever for
the real internet.

~~~
colordrops
I was under the impression that quantum entanglement could provide perfect
privacy across a connection, as it would be obvious whether the line
communication was intercepted.

~~~
lallysingh
But you'd need an entangled pair with everyone you want to communicate with.

~~~
whatshisface
You'd just have to organize daily deliveries from the Entanglement Man.

~~~
krapp
Chances are the Entanglement Man makes 12.00/hr, has to provide his own car
and pees into a bottle to make quota.

------
__john
Wouldn't a "quantum internet" have more stable latency? I generally notice
that my latency fluctuates between 50ms and 100ms. I attribute this to the
other users on my ISP's network, all the routers/switches/etc between me and
the server I'm connecting to, and the load the server is under. I assume that
the first two things (users and equipment) would be mitigated by using
entanglement to communicate. Can someone tell me why this line of reasoning
might be wrong?

~~~
lallysingh
You wouldn't have point to point links with everyone else. You'll still have
common trunk lines that get congested.

------
machinecoffee
Does there even exist a working quantum network at the moment, as in has
anybody ever connected two devices and sent 1MB of data over the link (even if
the 2 nodes are only a few meters apart)?

This article is talking about building an internet, but I'm not even aware of
a reliably functioning peer-to-peer network, which is surely a needed first
step?

------
gamesbrainiac
I'm sorry to sound like the idiot here but, does this mean much lower latency,
if so by how much?

Furthermore, how does this make communication more secure? Are you not still
sending data from node to node?

~~~
317070
Information never goes faster than light, even though quantum information
does. But, the communication is more secure because the data which goes from
node to node is quantum encoded. So if someone would eavesdrop, the code would
break and the receiver would immediately know there was an eavesdropper, as he
would no longer be able to decode the information. Quantum information can
only have 1 sender and 1 receiver.

------
sigjuice
[http://dilbert.com/strip/1992-09-21](http://dilbert.com/strip/1992-09-21)

~~~
hi41
Hehe. Offer he can't refuse. Lol.

------
m3kw9
In layman terms does this mean we will get 0ms latency?

~~~
akvadrako
Not at all. Instantaneous communication can be used to send messages back in
time, so it would be a much bigger deal if that was expected.

~~~
wafflesindeed
Can you expand on this? How can it be used to send messages back in time if
both are timestamped to the micro/nano second?

------
afro88
Off topic: I was in Delft recently on a whim when visiting a friend in
Rotterdam. Beautiful old town, highly recommend passing through. And only 10
mins by train from Rotterdam!

~~~
dep_b
If you want to visit The Netherlands don't (only) go to Amsterdam. It's like
only visiting Disneyland when you go to the US. It's really nice but you don't
really get a realistic picture of the country (at least the center).

~~~
Jupe
Madurodam was a fascinating day visit. Kidd-ish, but some of the models were
fascinating.

Advice: don't drive a car in Amsterdam! :)

