Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado have broken the record for quantum teleportation using fiber optic cables. Although this doesn’t necessarily mean we’re any closer to teleporting objects, the achievement may help to improve the future security and strength of Internet connections.
The Process Of Quantum Teleportation
Scientists were able to transfer information encoded onto photons, or particles of light, from one place to another through a spool of fiber optic cables for a length of about 61 miles; the previous record was set at 15 miles.
What does this mean for quantum data transference? Well, traditional fiber-optic networking isn’t always reliable, as the number of photons can drastically drop as they travel along a network. To combat this issue, fiber-optic networks amplify signals using a pulse booster or repeater.
A photon, however, can exist in two states at once, which makes it hard to accurately predict its behavior. For this reason, scientists implemented three photons to transfer information: an input photon, a helper photon and an output photon, the latter two of which are entangled. Since they are linked, if one is observed to be in a specific state, the second must also mimic that state.
The project makes for a “near-perfect encryption scheme,” as the first photon is destroyed after the helper photon has already learned its state and transferred the information to the output photon. The new detectors have enabled scientists to let through about 1 percent of photons. Though this may seem like a low number, the difficulty of task makes the accomplishment a huge feat.
The Future of Quantum Teleportation
The Internet we all rely on today is very fast, but not very secure. By contrast, quantum Internet is secure, but not very fast. As such, scientists want to focus on building a quantum Internet with faster data transferring rates, which would offer a lot more security to users around the world. Moreover, quantum encryption would ultimately ensure that there is no digital communication interference.
