Quantum Physics: Scientists Set New Record for Quantum Teleportation

The distance record for quantum teleportation has been broken. Researchers at NIST have managed to teleport quantum information over 100 kilometers of optical fiber, which is four times farther than the previous record.

Quantum teleportation involves the transfer, or remote reconstruction, of information encoded in quantum states of matter or light. Teleportation is useful in both quantum communications and quantum computing, which offer prospects for novel capabilities such as unbreakable encryption and advanced code breaking, respectively. The basic method for quantum teleportation was first proposed more than 20 years ago and has been performed by a number of research groups, including one at NIST using atoms in 2004.

This new record was set by transferring quantum information contained in one photon to another photon transmitted over 102 kilometers of spooled fiber. This achievement was possible due to advanced single-photon detectors designed and made at NIST.

"Only about 1 percent of photons make it all the way through 100 km of fiber," said Marty Stevens, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We never could have done this experiment without these new detectors, which can measure this incredibly weak signal."

Until now, so much quantum data was lost in fiber that transmission rates and distances were low. The new technique, though, could be used to make devices called quantum repeaters that could resend data periodically in order to extend the network reach, perhaps enough to eventually build a "quantum internet."

Thanks to the efficient detectors, the researchers teleported the desired quantum state in 83 percent of the maximum possible successful transmissions, on average. All experimental runs with different starting properties exceeded the mathematically significant 66.7 percent threshold for providing the quantum nature of the teleportation process.

The findings are published in the journal Optica.

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