Photonic & Telus achieve quantum teleportation trial

Photonic has expanded its partnership with Telus after the two Canadian groups demonstrated quantum teleportation over an existing metropolitan fibre network, a step they described as important for future quantum-secure communications.

The test ran across 30 km of installed commercial fibre on Telus' PureFibre network in the Vancouver area. Photonic transferred quantum information across the link and delivered it into a matter-based quantum processor at a remote node.

The result adds to a growing body of work aimed at using conventional telecoms infrastructure for emerging quantum communications systems.

Existing fibre

In this context, quantum teleportation refers to transferring the state of quantum information between locations using entanglement and classical signalling, rather than moving the underlying physical carrier itself.

Photonic used what it calls an Entanglement First architecture, combining silicon-based qubits with photonic connectivity in the telecoms band. That aligns with wavelengths used in common fibre optic networks.

In the demonstration, the transferred information was received by a matter-based processor that can store and use it. That differs from earlier experiments over commercial fibre that relied only on photonic qubits: those approaches could be measured at the far end but did not place the information into a processor for further operations.

Photonic said delivering quantum information into a remote processing node is required for building long-distance quantum networks. It also supports efforts to build distributed quantum computers, which use connected modules rather than a single monolithic machine.

"The successful demonstration of Photonic's quantum teleportation on TELUS's PureFibre is groundbreaking," said Paul Terry, CEO of Photonic. "This critical milestone shows the value of industry leaders working together to accelerate Canada's leadership in quantum computing and networking. This is just the beginning of real-world impacts we will jointly deliver."

Collaboration scope

The updated collaboration covers a broader set of projects in quantum networking and distributed quantum computing, along with access to Telus' fibre infrastructure for trials in a live environment.

One focus is quantum-secure networking, often discussed in the context of protecting sensitive data against future cryptographic threats. Another is linking quantum processors across distance, which has been proposed as a way to scale systems that are difficult to build as a single device.

"At TELUS, we are committed to developing cutting-edge technologies that will support a secure and connected future in Canada. I'm thrilled to see this breakthrough from Photonic," said Nazim Benhadid, chief technology officer at Telus. "These results demonstrate the quantum potential of TELUS' PureFibre network and set the stage for our collaboration to deliver technology that contributes to building a secure, resilient, and connected future for Canada."

The agreement also points to commercial directions often tied to quantum networking roadmaps, including quantum data centres and encrypted networks. The companies also referred to nationwide networks and "tamper-evident transfer of information", reflecting a wider industry push toward methods that can detect interference with quantum signals.

Investment link

Telus Global Ventures, the operator's corporate venture arm, also highlighted the outcome. Corporate venture units in telecoms have increasingly taken interest in quantum communications as operators assess how quantum signals might coexist with classical traffic and how networks might evolve to incorporate new hardware.

"It is exciting to have the opportunity to support the technologies that will shape tomorrow - and even better when they are built on infrastructure that delivers real value today," said Terry Doyle, managing partner at Telus Global Ventures. "This world-first outcome of the collaboration between Photonic and TELUS reinforces its potential to fundamentally redefine secure telecommunications infrastructure on a global scale."

Photonic is based in Vancouver, with operations in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has a team of more than 150 staff and is working on quantum computers that link silicon spin qubits via optical connections.

Telus operates across multiple markets and reported more than USD $20 billion in annual revenue and more than 21 million customer connections. It has positioned its fibre network as a platform for new services and has expanded into health and digital customer experience units.

Photonic said continued access to Telus' PureFibre network will provide a setting for further tests of distributed quantum computing and networking over installed infrastructure.