Teleportation of light particles across cities takes us one step closer to a quantum internet

A recent experiment held in HeiFei, China, and Calgary, Canada has caused ripples in the science world after it proved photons could be teleported in a quantum state for much further distances than ever before attempted. 

This ‘teleportation' has been made possible by Quantum Entanglement, the theory which proves certain pairs or groups of photons cannot be described as independently moving or acting despite being separate entities. One's movements (spin, momentum, polarization or position) affects the other regardless how far they are from one another. In particles terms, it's like when you can spin one magnet around using another magnet. The two magnets are independent but can be moved by one another without physical interaction.  

(I'm simplifying a theory that has had volumes and volumes penned in its name to one paragraph, the magnet analogy is not perfectly synonymous but good enough for our purposes.) 

Likewise, quantum entanglement allows particles at a great distance to act in unison, the great distance tested, in this case, being 6.2 kilometres.  

"Our Demonstration establishes an important requirement for quantum repeater-based communications," the report says, " ... and constitutes a milestone towards a global quantum internet."  

The reason this breakthrough could make the Internet faster is because it would eliminate the need for any and all cabling. You could have a pair of synced photons, one in a server and one in a computer. This way, instead of information being sent down a cable, it would be sent seamlessly by the computer manipulating its photon and having the servers photon being moved identically. 

The experiments involved sending photons (light particles) along Fibre Optic communication network lines from one side to the other in the respective cities. While the theory of quantum teleportation was proven almost two decades ago, this is the first time it was proven on a terrestrial network that did not exist for the sole purpose of the experiment.  

The repercussions from this experiment are enormous, as it proves that a Quantum Internet would not require the current infrastructure to be replaced to run quantum speed Internet. 

When approached by Quantumrun, Marcelli Grimau Puigibert (one of the key players in the Calgary experiment) told us, "This bring us closer to a future Quantum Internet that can connect powerful quantum computers with a security ensured by the laws if quantum mechanics."