Ultra-secure quantum data sent over existing internet cables

Another step towards a quantum internet has been completed, and does not require any special communication team. Two data centers in Germany have exchanged quantum information using existing telecommunications fibers at room temperature. This contrasts with most quantum communications, which require cooling at extremely low temperatures to protect the quantum parts of the disturbances in their environment.

The quantum Internet, where information can be extremely safe thanks to being encoded in quantum parts called photons, is quickly incurred in the world outside the laboratory. In March, a microsatellite allowed a quantum bond between land stations in China and South Africa. A few weeks before, the first operating system for quantum communication networks was presented.

Now, Mirko Pittaluga in Toshiba Europe Limited and his colleagues have sent quantum information through the optical fiber between two facilities around 250 kilometers in Kehl and Frankfurt, Germany. The information also passed through a third station between them, just over 150 kilometers from Frankfurt.

Photons can be logical or corrupted as pulmonary distances go through fiber optic cables, so that great quantum internet iterations will require “quantum repeaters”, which will mitigate those losses. In this configuration, the Midway station played a similar role, which allows the network to exceed previously tested and simpler connections between the two final points.

In a notable improvement in previous quantum networks, the equipment used existing fiber, as well as devices that can be easily placed in racks that already house traditional telecommunications equipment. This strengthens the case that quantum Internet Angely becomes a plug-And-Play operation.

The researchers also used photons detectors that are much less expensive than those used in past experiments. He thought that some of those previous experiments covered hundreds or more kilometers, the use of these detectors reduces the cost and energy requirements of the new network, says Raja Yehia at the Institute of Fotonic Sciences of Spain.

Prem Kumar in the Northwestern University in Illinois says that the use of the type of quantum communication protocol that they have here in warning commercial teams underlines how quantum networks are approaching practicality. “A systems engineer could see this and see what works,” says Kumar. However, to be completely practical, the network would have to exchange information faster, he says.

Mehdi Namazi in the quantum communication company Qunnect in New York says that this approach could benefit future quantum computer networks or quantum sensors, but it is not yet as efficient as if it included a true quantum repeater.