• Backing up information on quantum computers is trickyRUSLANAS BARANAUSKAS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Alamy Backing up information on quantum computers is tricky RUSLANAS BARANAUSKAS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Alamy In quantum mechanics, the idea that quantum information can’t be duplicated isironclad- or at least, it was. • A surprising approach to backing up qubits, the basic units of quantum computers, appears to allow a sidestepping of this fundamental law of physics. • The no-cloning theorem was first discovered by researchers in the 1980s. • It says that quantum states that describe all the information about a system can’t be copied. • Attempting to measure the information to copy it would simply destroy the delicate quantum properties that you want to measure. • This fact has proved important for quantum technologies like encryption, leading to simple protocols that prevent information from being copied and hacked.

Article Summaries:

  • In quantum mechanics, the idea that quantum information can’t be duplicated is ironclad - or at least, it was. A surprising approach to backing up qubits, the basic units of quantum computers, appears to allow a sidestepping of this fundamental law of physics. The no-cloning theorem was first discovered by researchers in the 1980s. It says that quantum states that describe all the information about a system can’t be copied. Attempting to measure the information to copy it would simply destroy the delicate quantum properties that you want to measure. This fact has proved important for quantum t

Sources: