Researchers at the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz IPHT) in Jena, Germany, together with international collaborators, have developed two complementary methods that could make quantum communication via fiber optics practical outside the lab.
One approach significantly increases the amount of information that can be encoded in a single photon; the other improves the stability of the quantum signal over long distances. Both methods rely on standard telecom components—offering a realistic path to secure data transmission through existing fiber networks.
From hospitals to government agencies and industrial facilities—anywhere sensitive data must be kept secure—quantum communication could one day play a key role. Instead of transmitting electrical signals, this technology uses individual particles of light—photons—encoded in delicate quantum states. One of its key advantages: any attempt to intercept or tamper with the signal disturbs the quantum state, making eavesdropping not only detectable but inherently limited.
But getting quantum communication out of the lab and into the real world still poses serious technical challenges. A team of researchers from Germany and Canada tackled two of the biggest questions: How can each photon carry more information? And how can signals remain stable across long distances, despite the distortions introduced by fiber-optic transmission?
Their answers are presented in two recent studies published in Nature Communications and Physical Review Letters. The team demonstrates a new photonic platform that significantly boosts the information density per photon, and a second technique that preserves signal fidelity over hundreds of kilometers of fiber—both using components already deployed in today's telecom networks.
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