50 Kilometers Closer to Quantum Internet

(ZMEScience) We are 50 kilometers closer to the quantum bit internet with the Innsbruck researchers’ success in sending light entangled with quantum information over a 50-kilometer-long stretch of optic fiber. Such results pave the way for long-range quantum communication, which would enable transfer between different cities according to author Alexandru Micu.
The study comes as a collaboration between members at the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck and at the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. They report setting the longest record for the transfer of quantum entanglement between matter and light.
One of the most appealing prospects of quantum internet is that it should be completely tap-proof. Information in such a network is encrypted and unbreakable, and any interference with the signal readily apparent.
In the future, the team wants to double the distance such a particle can travel to 100 km of optic fiber, potentially enabling connections between cities. Only a handful of trapped ion-systems would be required to maintain a quantum internet link between Innsbruck and Vienna (387km/240mi), for example.