Insider Brief
Northwestern University researchers demonstrated that entangled photons can be distributed over a 24.4-kilometer metropolitan fiber-optic link while the same cable simultaneously carried high-capacity commercial internet traffic, supporting the feasibility of quantum networks on existing telecommunications infrastructure.
By transmitting quantum signals in the optical O-band, separating them from conventional C-band traffic, and using precise picosecond-level synchronization, the team preserved entanglement with more than 94% fidelity despite heavy data transmission.
The researchers plan to build on the demonstration by performing quantum teleportation between remote nodes across a live metropolitan telecommunications network carrying commercial traffic.
PRESS RELEASE — Quantum information is notoriously fragile. Internet traffic is anything but.
