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Letters to Nature

Nature 431, 430-433 (23 September 2004) | doi:10.1038/nature02858; Received 14 May 2004; Accepted 19 July 2004

Open Innovation Challenges

Demonstration of a quantum teleportation network for continuous variables

Hidehiro Yonezawa1,2, Takao Aoki1,2 & Akira Furusawa1,2

  1. Department of Applied Physics, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
  2. CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 1-1-9 Yaesu, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0028, Japan

Correspondence to: Akira Furusawa1,2 Email: akiraf@ap.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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Quantum teleportation1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 involves the transportation of an unknown quantum state from one location to another, without physical transfer of the information carrier. Although quantum teleportation is a naturally bipartite process, it can be extended to a multipartite protocol known as a quantum teleportation network9. In such a network, entanglement is shared between three or more parties. For the case of three parties (a tripartite network), teleportation of a quantum state can occur between any pair, but only with the assistance of the third party. Multipartite quantum protocols are expected to form fundamental components for larger-scale quantum communication and computation10, 11. Here we report the experimental realization of a tripartite quantum teleportation network for quantum states of continuous variables (electromagnetic field modes). We demonstrate teleportation of a coherent state between three different pairs in the network, unambiguously demonstrating its tripartite character.