Previous experiments have transported various pieces of information over a longer distance in a free space, but now, with the capability to perform it through traditional fiber-optic wires it provides more versatility for system design.
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A team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology has broken the distance record for quantum teleportation down optical fiber, showing they’re able to transfer quantum information over 60 miles. “Only about 1 percent of photons make it all the way through 100 km of fiber”, explains Marty Stevens, a NIST researcher, in a press release.
When we talk about quantum teleportation, we’re not talking about matter transfer, at least not yet.
To break the distance record, the NIST had to use a very sensitive detector, one that could detect single photons.
It is worth noting that the premise of “teleporting” has no relation to the concepts described in science fiction, but rather refers to the transportation and reconstruction of information held in quantum states.
Quantum teleportation needs to capture the details that are fundamental to the object or its quantum states, and then instantly transmit that data from one area to the next to recreate that same object somewhere else. The laboratory first used atoms in their experiments, but photons are faster and more easily to manipulate. The detectors rely on superconducting nanowires made of molybdenum silicide.
The detectors used in this new experiment could record more than 80 percent of arriving photons, according to the scientists.
The fragility of quantum information is proving a stumbling block to what has the potential to be the biggest game-changer in computing, albeit decades away.
“However, the experiment at the Canary Islands involved a telescope on top of one mountain and a telescope on top of another mountain, with the telescopes pointed at each other at night, since background light during the day would interfere with the experiment”, Stevens said.
Because the research strained out and targeted only a restricted mixture of quantum levels, teleportation might be effective in only 20% of the signals at best.
“A quantum internet could allow you to establish communications channels that are much more secure than what we have with the standard encryption protocols we use everyday nowadays”.
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Researchers chronicled their feat in the latest issue of the journal Optica.
