Inside the laboratory.
Academician Xue looked around nervously.
On one hand, he was curious; on the other hand, he was worried about seeing something he shouldnât see, something that was confidential.
Lu Zhou led him inside the laboratory and spoke in a relaxing tone, as if he knew what the academician was worried about.
âDonât be nervous, youâre an insider, so it doesnât matter if you see these things.â
If this were the third-floor underground laboratory, then it would be a different story. However, these few pieces of equipment were in the upper-level laboratory, so it wasnât a big deal for an insider to witness what was going on.
After hearing Lu Zhouâs words, Academician Xue felt a little relieved. He had a calm look on his face as he curiously looked around the laboratory.
This laboratory was different from most laboratories he had seen before. Rather than a messy laboratory, this was more like a minimalistic and clean factory.
As Academician Xue looked at the computer connected to a machine, he spoke casually.
âWhat is this?â
âA laser melting 3D printing system... Itâs mainly used to process metal and plastic parts. Itâs annoying to order these parts from a materials factory, and I donât want to waste time waiting.â
Academician Xue was astonished.
âYou know how to use a 3D printing machine?â
Lu Zhou replied casually, âActually, itâs voice-controlled... thanks to artificial intelligence technology.â
Academician Xueâs mouth was wide open.
Voice control?
Artificial intelligence?
How is that possible?
He knew what automated machines were, but how could an artificial intelligence program understand what kind of model the user wanted? This didnât seem like a problem that could be solved by an artificial intelligenceâs fuzzy calculation.
However, since he wasnât an expert in this area, he wasnât in a position to make any comments. Instead, he left the problem aside and looked at another strange machine.
âThen... what about that?â Academician Xue pointed at the silver-white metal tube inside the laboratory. âWhat is that thing for?â
âItâs a multi-line single-photon tube... This is what I want to show you.â Lu Zhou picked up his gloves from the experiment table next to him and carefully put them on. He took out a cylinder-shaped object inside a gas protection chamber.
There were honeycomb-shaped openings in the cross-section of the cylinder. The body of the cylinder was made from glass-like translucent tubes.
Academician Xue felt like a caveman who was being exposed to new technology.
Even though he didnât want to ask anymore questions, he still couldnât help but ask.
âWhat is this?â
âA three-dimensional vacuum chamber with a multi-mode structure. The main material is an alloy of ytterbium, molybdenum, and other materials. It can realize all of our fantasies regarding the quantum world...â Lu Zhou contemplated for a second and said, âAt least for now.â
Academician Xueâs mouth was wide open.
He did not expect this at all.
His intuition told him that the object in front of him contained powers beyond his imagination. However, he didnât know where this intuition came from.
He almost forgot his original reason for coming here.
âI know you have a lot of questions, Iâll answer them soon.â
Lu Zhou turned around and placed this mysterious cylinder carefully in a perfect-fitting compartment.
The cylinder slowly descended into the compartment, Lu Zhou took a step back and stood next to a computer. He had a satisfied smile on his face.
âThis is perfect!â
Academician Xue: â... I donât quite understand.â
âBasically, this is a quantum entanglement amplifier. You can think of it as a magnifying glass, but it doesnât magnify light waves, it amplifies something much smaller than light waves.â
Academician Xue had a crazy thought in his mind.
â... Single photons?â
âCorrect... But not totally. Precisely speaking, theyâre entangled photon pairs.â
When Lu Zhou snapped his fingers, the signal light on the machine behind him turned on. The two ends of the silver-white metal tube began to buzz.
Despite how shocked Academician Xue was, Lu Zhou continued to casually explain.
â... By placing a three-dimensional multi-mode vacuum chamber structure in a magnetic field, the free ytterbium atoms in the alloy will enter an extremely stable state, thereby isolating it from the interference in the environment and capturing the traveling photos. The entangled state is then transferred to the next repeater through a new single-photon emitter, and the process will be repeated.â
Academician Xueâs jaw was on the floor.
âIs... is this?!â
âYouâre right.â Lu Zhou smiled and nodded. He said, âQuantum communication.â
While they were talking, the preparation for the experiment was completed.
64 pairs of light quanta were emitted from tube A, and they were amplified by the repeater while passing through the pipeline. They continued to travel to the next channel, finally entering the receiver at tube B.
Lu Zhou looked at the numbers on the screen and smirked.
64 pairs of photons!
All received!
Thereâs no doubt that this experiment is a success!
Academician Xue watched everything unravel in front of him. After Lu Zhou entered the experiment results in the database, he finally spoke.
âItâs over?â
Lu Zhou, who was sitting in front of a computer, replied, âItâs over, the experiment was successful.â
Academician Xue: âWhy are you showing me this?â
There was no doubt that what he had just witnessed was more confidential than the quantum encryption algorithm.
He had no idea why Lu Zhou wanted to show him these things.
âBecause itâs not perfect yet, and I have only solved a portion of the entire problem. There are other parts of the problems that have yet to solve. And this is not my area of expertise...â Lu Zhou glanced at the clock on the wall and said with a smile, âNow that the experiment is over, we should talk somewhere else.â
Lu Zhou typed a few buttons on the keyboard and turned off the experiment machine.
He looked at Academician Xue and said, âLetâs go to my office.
âWe can drink something and talk about interesting problems.â