The Internet of the Future: Dutch researchers succeed in teleporting quantum information over a simple network

Researchers in the Netherlands have managed to teleport quantum information to a simple three-node network, a “first” that is an important step forward for a future quantum Internet.

The achievement was made possible by the improvement of quantum memory and the quality of quantum links between the three nodes of the network. His researchers Delft University of Technology and the Dutch Institute for Applied Scientific Research (APO)led by Ronald Hanson, who published in the journal Nature, stated that the widespread use of teleportation in a quantum network will take time, as several more technical advances will be needed until the final development of a large-scale quantum internet .

The future of quantum internet will be based on its ability to send quantum information (quantum bits or qubits) between the nodes that make it up. This will allow various applications such as completely secure data exchange and confidential information, as well as the simultaneous interconnection of several quantum computers and high-precision quantum sensors of various kinds.

The nodes of such a quantum network consist of small quantum processors. Sending quantum information between these processor nodes is not an easy task. The possibility of sending quantum information using light particles “stumbles” on the inevitable losses in fiber optic cables, especially over long distances, with the result that these particles do not all reach their destination. The loss of a particle of light means that valuable quantum information will be lost forever.

A better but more “exotic” solution is the teleportation of quantum information, which has similarities to teleportation in science fiction: the quantum bit disappears on the sender’s side and magically appears on the recipient side. As quantum information does not need to travel in the intermediate space, there is no way it can be lost, which makes quantum teleportation a critical technology for creating a quantum Internet.

But to achieve “magic” teleportation, there are three prerequisites: a quantum interlock link between the transmitter and receiver, a reliable method for “reading” quantum processors, and the ability to temporarily store quantum bits. To date, it has been shown that quantum information can be teleported between two neighboring nodes. Now, for the first time, such teleportation has been achieved between non-neighboring nodes, in other words within a network. The quantum bits traveled from the “Charlie” node to the “Alice” node, with the help of the “Bob” intermediate node.

Teleportation consists of three stages. In the first stage, a state of quantum entanglement must be created between “Charlie” and “Alice”. These two nodes do not have a direct physical connection between them, but both are connected via optical fiber to the “Bob”. “Alice” creates a quantum entanglement with “Bob”, who as an intermediary temporarily stores this situation. “Bob” then creates a similar situation of quantum entanglement with “Charlie”, to whom the former sends the quantum information of “Alice”. Eventually, “Alice” and “Charlie” are in quantum entanglement thanks to the mediation of “Bob” and thus the teleportation of quantum data becomes possible.

In the second stage of the process, the “message” (quantum bit) that will be teleported is created, while in the third step the teleportation itself takes place. This makes possible the unthinkable in the world we experience as reality, but which is possible in the quantum world: the information disappears on the part of “Charlie” and immediately appears in “Alice”. The quantum bit has also been encrypted during transport.

The next stage of research will focus on reversing steps one and two of the teleportation protocol, so that the quantum bit to be teleported is first created or received and then the teleportation is prepared.

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