A team of scientists from the Australian National University is developing a prototype optical quantum hard drive technology to improve storage time by a factor of over 100.

They've already successfully improved the prototype's storage time to six hours, which is a step towards developing a secure worldwide data encryption network using quantum information.

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This network could be used for online banking transactions and emails, according to the scientists. Quantum information would be written onto the nuclear spins of a europium ion using laser light.

"We believe it will soon be possible to distribute quantum information between any two points on the globe," said Manjin Zhong, lead author from the university's Research School of Physics and Engineering.

"Quantum states are very fragile and normally collapse in milliseconds. Our long storage times have the potential to revolutionize the transmission of quantum information."

Scientists say the new approach may be a better alternative to using laser beams in optical fibers.

"Our storage times are now so long that it means people need to rethink what is the best way to distribute quantum data," said Zhong.

"Even transporting our crystals at pedestrian speeds we have less loss than laser systems for a given distance. We can now imagine storing entangled light in separate crystals and then transporting them to different parts of the network thousands of kilometers apart."

"So, we are thinking of our crystals as portable optical hard drives for quantum entanglement." Zhong added.

TagsQuantum Hard Drive, Optical Hard Drive, Australian National University, ANU, Storage time, Quantum Information