Princeton University researchers are using synthetic diamonds to help create a communication network that relies on a property of subatomic particles known as their quantum state. Researchers believe such quantum information networks would be extremely secure and could also allow new quantum computers to work together to complete problems that are currently unsolvable. But scientists currently designing these networks face several challenges, including how to preserve fragile quantum information over long distances.

Now, researchers have arrived at a possible solution using lab-made diamonds, which allow precision control of the gem’s chemistry.

In an article published this week in the journal Science, the researchers describe how they were able to store and transmit bits of quantum information, known as qubits, using a diamond in which they had replaced two carbon atoms with one silicon atom.

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