Scientists are using diamonds to send secret messages

A Princeton-led research team has created diamonds that contain defects capable of storing and transmitting quantum information for use in a future 'quantum internet.' The defects can take and store quantum information in the form of electrons for relatively long periods of time and link it efficiently to photons. Credit: Image courtesy of Paul Stevenson, postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University

The internet was built through a vast network of copper wires. In the future, it could be diamonds.

Researchers at Princeton University are creating diamonds that, they think, will be able to store and transmit micro-messages called “qubits.”

In a press release, they explain that their man-made diamonds could be used to build the new super-secure — and super-smart — internet of the future, called the quantum internet.

The science is complex, but essentially, researchers have been looking for a better way to store and send qubits, which are typically transmitted through particles of light, or photons. (Think fiber optic networks.) But this method only works for short distances before the information becomes distorted.

Scientists think crystals, like diamonds, might not distort the information so much. They’re using the diamond’s flaws — streaks of discoloration and chemical impurity in the otherwise pure-carbon stone — as little messenger bags to carry and transmit qubits.

If nothing else, it’s a case for buying a cheaper engagement ring.

This story originally appeared in the New York Post.