Scientists at Leibniz University Hannover have pioneered a technique to merge quantum and conventional Internet on optical fibers, a leap towards secure, unhackable communication systems.
A team of four researchers from the Institute of Photonics at Leibniz University Hannover has achieved a major milestone in telecommunications technology by devising a groundbreaking transmitter-receiver system that allows for the transmission of entangled photons over existing optical fibers. This innovation could pave the way for the integration of the budding quantum Internet with our conventional fiber optic networks, catapulting the next generation of secure communications technologies into reality.
The quantum Internet, celebrated for its promise of eavesdrop-proof encryption even against future quantum computers, relies on transmitting entangled photons. The team has demonstrated that it’s possible to maintain photon entanglement while using optical fibers traditionally employed for conventional data transmission.
“To make the quantum Internet a reality, we need to transmit entangled photons via fiber optic networks,” Michael Kues, a professor and head of the Institute of Photonics and board member of the PhoenixD Cluster of Excellence at Leibniz University Hannover, said in a news release. “We also want to continue using optical fibers for conventional data transmission. Our research is an important step to combine the conventional Internet with the quantum Internet.”
In their experiment, the researchers achieved a key breakthrough — entangled photons can be transmitted alongside a laser pulse without losing their entangled state.
“We can change the color of a laser pulse with a high-speed electrical signal so that it matches the color of the entangled photons,” Philip Rübeling, a doctoral student at the Institute of Photonics, said in the news release.
This advancement is crucial because it demonstrates the ability to merge entangled photons and laser pulses of the same color within an optical fiber and then split them again.
“This effect enables us to combine laser pulses and entangled photons of the same color in an optical fiber and separate them again,” added Rübeling.
Previously, the use of both transmission methods in a single color channel within an optical fiber was unattainable due to entangled photons obstructing the data channels, thereby preventing conventional data transmission.
“The entangled photons block a data channel in the optical fiber, preventing its use for conventional data transmission,” said Jan Heine, another doctoral student in Kues’ group.
By resolving this blockage, the researchers accomplished something unprecedented — allowing photons to be sent in the same color channel as laser light. This breakthrough suggests that all color channels could still be viable for conventional data transmission while also supporting quantum data, thus making hybrid networks a feasible reality.
“Our experiment shows how the practical implementation of hybrid networks can succeed,” added Kues, underscoring the significance of their findings.
Published in the journal Science Advances, their research not only marks a scientific triumph but also holds immense implications for the future of secure communications. As we stand on the verge of the quantum Internet era, this development brings us a step closer to seamlessly blending it with existing Internet infrastructure, promising a future where data transmission is faster, more efficient and virtually invulnerable to eavesdropping.