Data highway for quantum information

Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology quantum mechanically couple atoms to glass fiber cables. Now, they have shown that their technique enables storage of quantum information over a sufficiently long period of time to realize global quantum networks based on optical fibers.

Will emails be quantum encrypted in the future? Will we be able to teleport quantum states over large distances via ordinary glass fiber cables? Laser-cooled atoms which are coupled to ultra-thin glass fibers are ideally suited for applications in quantum communication. Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology have now demonstrated experimentally that such glass fibers are capable of storing quantum information long enough so that they could be used for entangling atoms hundreds of kilometers apart. This constitutes a fundamental building block for a global fiber-based quantum communication network.