Quantum teleportation and networking
The Fermilab Quantum Network (FQNET) is part of the Intelligent Quantum Network and Technologies (INQNET) research program, which was developed through a Caltech and AT&T partnership and is hosted at Fermilab. It features photonics and optical fiber based local quantum teleportation nodes. The goals of FQNET include achieving high-fidelity teleportation between multiple remote nodes within the Fermilab site (few kilometers) and further expanding to produce and distribute quantum entanglement beams across tens of kilometers. FQNET aims to be a broad R&D platform where quantum science and technology researchers from universities and national labs, as well as industry partners, can test and benchmark various advanced quantum devices and hybrid architecture systems.
The Illinois-Express Quantum Network (IEQNET) project will develop and demonstrate operation of transparent optical quantum networks designs, connecting the existing FQNET nodes with proposed nodes located at the downtown Chicago Northwestern University medical school campus and the Evanston campus and focuses on developing complex topology architectures beyond point-to-point communications. When deployed, such a network could be used by the larger quantum information science community to test a variety of quantum systems connected to it.
Wormhole quantum teleportation
FQNET is exploring the connection of quantum teleportation protocols with deep mysteries of space-time physics — black holes and wormholes. Recent work in theoretical high-energy physics has demonstrated that a pair of entangled black holes can be connected via a wormhole, which is a theoretical “shortcut” through space-time that connects spaces that are otherwise separated by great distances. Wormhole quantum teleportation may be reproducible for smaller quantum systems in the lab, and the phenomenon could offer one avenue for developing a quantum network.