Researchers sets a distance record for teleporting a photon over a fiber network read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/934-researchers-sets-a-distance-record-for-teleporting-a-photon-over-a-fiber-network

A group of physicists led by Wolfgang Tittel, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary have successfully demonstrated teleportation of a photon (an elementary particle of light) over a straight-line distance of six kilometers using The City of Calgary’s fibre optic cable infrastructure. 

The experiment is based on the entanglement property of quantum mechanics, also known as "spooky action at a distance", a property so mysterious that not even Einstein could come to terms with it.

"Being entangled means that, the two photons that form an entangled pair have properties that are linked regardless of how far the two are separated," explains Tittel.

The research could not be possible without access to the proper technology. One of the critical pieces of infrastructure that support quantum networking is accessible dark fiber, because of its composition a single optical cable with no electronics or network equipment on the alignment doesn't interfere with quantum technology.

The City of Calgary is building and provisioning dark fiber to enable next-generation municipal services. This helps the development of projects like quantum encryption and create opportunities for further research, innovation and economic growth in Calgary.

As if teleporting a photon wasn't challenging enough, due to changes in the outdoor temperature, the transmission time of photons from their creation point to City Hall varied over the course of a day. This change meant that the two photons would not meet at City Hall.

The challenge was to keep the photon arrival time synchronized to within 10 pico-seconds. That is one trillionth, or one millionth of one millionth of a second.

Secondly, parts of their lab which was particularly tricky for the measurement station at City Hall, which included state-of-the-art superconducting single-photon detectors. These detectors only work at temperatures less than one degree above absolute zero the equipment also included a compact cryostat.

This demonstration is one of the most striking manifestations of a puzzling prediction of quantum mechanics, but it also opens the path to building a future quantum internet.