Kumar and his team measured entanglement fidelity above 94%, confirming it survived the journey at a level impossible for a classical communications system to reproduce.

The study is a part of a broader shift toward integrating quantum technologies with existing telecommunications systems. Kumar and coauthor Jordan Thomas recently explored that evolution in a feature article for Optics & Photonics News.

Next, the team plans to perform quantum teleportation between remote nodes across a real-world telecommunications network. While Kumar has already performed teleportation in his lab, he wants to demonstrate it over a metropolitan fiber carrying commercial traffic.