5 min
According to experts, quantum internet might not replace the classical internet but will enhance it. And after 5G, the next wave of technological advancement is going to be quantum internet.
Quantum Vs Classical Internet
In this article, we list down the differences between quantum internet and classical internet.- Signals: The classical internet today uses radio waves to send out signals. This wireless adapter of a computer translates data into a radio signal and transmits it using an antenna, which the wireless router receives. Then, the router sends the information to the internet via a wired ethernet connection. Ordinary internet uses radio frequencies to connect computers through a global web in which electronic signals are sent back and forth. Quantum internet, on the other hand, uses quantum signals to send out information. In this case, the signals will be sent to and fro through a quantum network via quantum entanglement particles.
- Security: The data transmitted will have quantum encryption, and because of this, we would be able to communicate data which will be unhackable over the quantum network. Also called as quantum cryptography uses quantum key distribution (QKD), which will have the data encrypted using the property of entanglement of quantum mechanics. If any disturbance is sensed in such kind of a message transfer, it will cause the message to be automatically destroyed, with both the sender and the receiver being notified about it. This means qubits cannot be copied or amplified. Such a level of security is not provided by the internet that we have today.
- Applications: The internet today can be thought of primarily being used for the purpose of communications and browsing. Quantum internet would provide advantages in the field of medicine, clock synchronization, extending the baseline of telescopes, secure identification, achieving efficient agreement on distributed data, exponential savings in communication, quantum sensor networks, apart from just communication. “Quantum voters,” says physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, “...Could use strategic-voting schemes that classical voters can’t implement”. Quantum techniques might help large groups to coordinate and reach a consensus, for instance, to validate electronic currencies such as Bitcoin.
Way Forward
China has already launched the first ever quantum satellite and has been sending signals to it as well. Last year, in December, according to an experiment by a team of scientists, several carefully managed photons were exchanged in pulses in infrared light, carried between Russian GLONASS satellites and the Space Geodesy Centre on the ground run by the Italian Space Agency. These signals passed through several kilometers of space without any loss of data, indicating that a global network of photons is indeed a possibility. Theoretical physicist Stephanie Wehne who works in the domain of quantum internet said, “In the quantum-computing domain, it’s much more all or nothing,”- India’s GCCs to Add 1.4 Million Jobs, Drive 170 Million Sq. Ft. Office Demand by 2031
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