Quantum Teleportation between Remote Qubit Memories with Only a Single Photon as a Resource

Area of Science:

• Quantum Information Science
• Quantum Communication

Background:

• Quantum teleportation typically requires pre-shared entangled qubit pairs for unconditional state transfer.
• Lossy quantum channels pose significant challenges for reliable qubit exchange.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a novel quantum teleportation protocol that is unconditional.
• To show that unconditional teleportation can be achieved with a single photon resource, not requiring pre-shared entanglement.

Main Methods:

• A protocol involving a single photon interacting sequentially with receiver and sender qubit memories.
• Utilizing photon detection and classical communication to herald successful teleportation.

Main Results:

• Successful teleportation of six mutually unbiased qubit states.
• Achieved an average fidelity of (88.3±1.3)%.
• Demonstrated teleportation at a rate of 6 Hz over a distance of 60 m.

Conclusions:

• The developed protocol offers a viable method for unconditional quantum state transfer.
• This approach simplifies resource requirements, using only a single photon.
• The results pave the way for more practical quantum communication systems.