A breakthrough experiment led by a team from the University of Stuttgart in Germany brings a quantum internet a step closer, with physicists teleporting a quantum state between photons produced by separate light sources for the first time.
The achievement allows engineers to bounce quantum information through repeating stations consisting of 'quantum dots' over long distances without loss or disruption.
Sending signals over a distance puts it at risk of losing critical elements of information. In a standard broadband internet cable, light signals carrying data are boosted using amplifiers, b