Hybrid quantum teleportation

Quantum teleportation allows for the transfer of arbitrary, in principle, unknown quantum states from a sender to a spatially distant receiver, who share an entangled state and can communicate classically. It is the essence of many sophisticated protocols for quantum communication and computation. In order to realize flying qubits in these schemes, photons are an optimal choice. However, teleporting a photonic qubit has been limited due to experimental inefficiencies and restrictions. Major disadvantages have been the probabilistic nature of both entangled resource states and linear-optics Bell-state measurements (BSM), as well as the need for post-selecting the successful events by destroying the teleported qubit. Here, all the above limitations are overcome through a totally distinct, “hybrid” approach: continuous-variable (CV) quantum teleportation of a discrete-variable, photonic qubit. The strength of CV teleportation lies in the on-demand availability of the quadrature-entangled states and the completeness of a BSM in the quadrature bases using linear optics and homodyne detections; this enables fully deterministic, unconditional teleportation of photonic qubits. We implement this kind of “hybrid” teleportation by utilizing a very recent, advanced technology: a broadband CV teleporter and a narrow-band qubit compatible with the teleporter.