Diamonds used for qubit entanglement over distance

Nature : Entangling quantum bits (qubits) at a distance has been done before, but most such demonstrations have used materials or systems that are not easily scalable. Ronald Hanson of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and his colleagues have now demonstrated the ability to entangle qubits in diamond crystals 3 m apart. Qubits, which are the basis for quantum computing, allow more than just a single bit of data to be encoded at one time. Entangling qubits over a distance may allow for the development of quantum communication systems with extreme levels of encryption and significantly faster transmission of information. The system demonstrated by Hanson and his colleagues is not very efficient, achieving entanglement only one time in every 10 million attempts (or about once every 10 minutes), and requires extremely low temperatures. However, once entangled, the qubits can be stored in the diamonds at room temperatures.