In a groundbreaking experiment, engineers at the University of Pennsylvania successfully extended quantum networking beyond the laboratory by transmitting signals over commercial fiber-optic cables using the same Internet Protocol (IP) that drives today’s web. Published in Science, the study demonstrates that delicate quantum signals can travel on the same infrastructure that carries routine online traffic. The tests were carried out on Verizon’s campus fiber-optic network.

At the center of the effort is the Penn team’s compact “Q-chip,” designed to coordinate quantum and classical information while operating in full compatibility with modern internet protocols. This innovation could serve as a foundation for a future “quantum internet,” a network that researchers expect may be as transformative as the emergence of the web itself.

Quantum communication depends on entangled particles, which are so strongly connected that altering one instantly changes the other. Leveraging this phenomenon could allow quantum computers to interconnect and share resources, enabling breakthroughs such as more efficient artificial intelligence and the development of novel drugs and materials beyond the capabilities of current supercomputers.