US Army Discovers Technique for Controlling Quantum Noise

Breakthrough could lead to larger quantum computers and extend the range of quantum communication

A study by the US Army research laboratory has discovered some new strategies of dealing with the problem of quantum noise. Quantum communication, like other forms of remote communication, must contend with the problem of noise entering the communication channel. In quantum communication, the problem is even bigger because the quantum signal is extremely low power.
According to the report, “As the team modeled, emulated, characterized and measured different types of noise in quantum channels, the researchers realized that while some quantum noise types are impossible to filter out, others could be removed quite easily. Surprisingly, it turns out that the bad noise could be converted into good noise by simply adding a cheap extra component to the quantum channel. Having this extra control allows them to tweak the channel and to adjust the properties of the noise that masks the transmitted signal.”
As quantum computing and quantum communication continue to evolve, the need to control the noise will become an ever-more important factor in extending the size and capacity of quantum systems.