"No one thought it was possible!" Quantum teleportation is realized for the first time via the Internet

For the first time, scientists have managed to perform quantum teleportation via the Internet. The leader of the revolutionary discovery admitted that "no one thought it was possible!"

The quantum state of light was successfully teleported over more than 30 kilometers of fiber optic cable amidst the flow of Internet traffic. The engineering feat, which was once considered unrealistic, was accomplished by researchers from the United States, ScienceAlert writes.

Experts emphasize that the quantum teleportation demonstrated by American scientists, unfortunately, cannot transfer a person to work in a matter of seconds, overcoming morning traffic jams.

However, the ability to teleport quantum states through existing infrastructure is a monumental step toward creating a quantum communication-related computing network, improved encryption, or powerful new sensing methods, scientists say.

"It's incredibly exciting because no one thought it was possible," said Prem Kumar, a Northwestern University computer engineer who led the study.

"Our work shows the way to next-generation quantum and classical networks that share a unified fiber infrastructure. In essence, it opens the door to taking quantum communications to the next level," the scientist added.

Bearing a passing resemblance to the transportation systems from the cult movie Star Trek, which instantly move passengers through time and space, teleportation takes the quantum capabilities of an object in one place and, by carefully destroying it, imposes the same balance of capabilities on a similar object elsewhere, the researchers explain.

According to the scientists, like a fairy thread in the spring rain, the quantum state of any object is a foggy spot of possibilities that risks dissolving into reality a moment after it is created.

Shielding quantum states inside computers is one thing, experts say. But sending a single photon through optical fibers filled with bank transactions, cat videos, and text messages while protecting its quantum state is much more difficult.

To preserve the precious state of a lone photon against a stream of 400 gigabits per second Internet traffic, the research team used a variety of techniques that limited the photon's channel and reduced the likelihood of it scattering and mixing with other waves.

"We carefully studied how light scatters and placed our photons at the legal point where this scattering mechanism is minimized. And we found that we can carry out quantum communication without interference from classical channels that are present at the same time," said the leader of the revolutionary discovery.

While other research groups have successfully transmitted quantum information along with classical data streams in simulations of the Internet, Kumar's team is the first to teleport a quantum state alongside a real network stream, experts emphasize.

Each additional test indicates that the quantum internet is inevitable, giving computer engineers a whole new set of tools to measure, monitor, encrypt, and compute the world like never before, without having to reinvent the network to do so, the scientists add.

According to Prem Kumar, such teleportation has the ability to provide quantum communication securely between geographically distant nodes.

"Many people have long assumed that no one would build specialized infrastructure to send light particles. If we choose the right wavelengths, we won't have to build new infrastructure. Classical communication and quantum communication can coexist," the scientist summarized.

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