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Researchers have used artificial intelligence to develop a simpler approach to creating quantum entanglement between subatomic particles, paving the way for more accessible quantum technologies.
When particles such as photons are entangled, they can exchange quantum properties — including information — regardless of the distance separating them. This phenomenon plays a key role in quantum physics and is one of the features that makes quantum computers so powerful.
However, establishing quantum entanglement is typically a challenging task for researchers. This involves preparing two separate entangled pairs and then measuring the level of entanglement — known as a Bell state measurement — for photons from each pair.
These measurements cause the quantum system to collapse, leaving the two unmeasured photons entangled, even though they never interacted directly. This process of “entanglement exchange” can be used for quantum teleportation.
In a new study published December 2, 2024, in the journal Physical Review Letters, the scientists used PyTheus, an artificial intelligence tool developed for designing quantum optical experiments. The authors of the paper initially planned to reproduce established protocols for sharing entanglement in quantum communications. However, the AI went on to suggest a much simpler method for achieving quantum entanglement of photons.
“The authors were able to train a neural network on a large set of complex data that demonstrated how to do these experiments in different settings, and the network essentially learned the underlying physics,” Sofia Vallecorsa, a research physicist at CERN's Quantum Technologies Initiative who was not involved in the study, told Live Science.
Using AI to Simplify Quantum Entanglement
The AI tool suggested that entanglement might arise from the indistinguishability of photon paths: when there are multiple possible sources from which photons could have come, and their origins become indistinguishable from each other, then entanglement can arise between them that was previously absent.
Although the scientists were initially skeptical of the results, the instrument kept coming up with the same solution, prompting them to test the theory. By adjusting the photon sources and ensuring that they were indistinguishable, the physicists created conditions in which detecting photons on certain paths ensured that the other two would emerge entangled.
This breakthrough in quantum physics has simplified the process of forming quantum entanglement. In the future, this could have an impact on quantum networks used for secure messaging, making these technologies much more feasible.
“The more we can rely on simple technology, the more we can expand the range of applications,” Vallecorsa said. “The ability to create more complex networks that can branch out into different geometries can have a significant impact in an end-to-end context.”
However, it is not yet clear whether this technology can be scaled up to a commercially viable process, as environmental noise and device imperfections could cause instability in the quantum system.
The new study also makes a compelling case for physicists to use AI as a research tool. “We are increasingly exploring the possibility of implementing AI, but there is still some skepticism, mainly due to the uncertainty of the role of the physicist when we start moving in this direction,” Vallecorsa noted. “This is an opportunity to obtain a very interesting result and a compelling demonstration of how AI can be a useful tool for physicists.”
TOPICS quantum computers
Sourse: www.livescience.com
