Unconditional advantage of quantum teleportation over direct transmission of single photons through a lossy channel

Nature Physics (2026) Cite this article Photon loss is the biggest challenge in quantum communications. Typically, only a small fraction of photons survives direct transmission over long distances, hindering potential applications such as loophole-free Bell tests and device-independent quantum key distribution. Quantum teleportation is an alternative way to transfer quantum states and could, in principle, overcome the limits on transmission imposed by photon loss. However, in practice, it is difficult to transfer single photons using quantum teleportation with a higher survival probability than using direct transmission. Here, to address this shortcoming, we propose and demonstrate an all-optical scheme for remote preparation of entangled photons. Using a lossy channel, we realize a heralding efficiency of 82% for event-ready entangled photons. After distributing entanglement in this way, we demonstrate teleportation-based transmission with a nearly threefold enhancement in efficiency compared with using direct transmission through the same channel, establishing an unconditional advantage for quantum teleportation.This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any timeSubscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per yearonly $21.58 per issueBuy this articleUSD 39.95Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkoutAll data are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.Lu, C. Y., Cao, Y., Peng, C. Z. & Pan, J. W. Micius quantum experiments in space. Rev. Mod. Phys. 94, 035001 (2022).Article ADS Google Scholar Wootters, W. K. & Zurek, W. H. A single quantum cannot be cloned. Nature 299, 802–803 (1982).Article ADS Google Scholar Bennett, C. H. et al. Teleporting an unknown quantum state via dual classical and Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen channels. Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 1895 (1993).Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar Bouwmeester, D. et al. Experimental quantum teleportation. Nature 390, 575–579 (1997).Article ADS Google Scholar Furusawa, A. et al. Unconditional quantum teleportation. Science 282, 706–709 (1998).Article ADS Google Scholar Nölleke, C. et al. Efficient teleportation between remote single-atom quantum memories. Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 140403 (2013).Article ADS Google Scholar Langenfeld, S. et al. Quantum teleportation between remote qubit memories with only a single photon as a resource. Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 130502 (2021).Article ADS Google Scholar Riebe, M. et al. Deterministic quantum teleportation with atoms. Nature 429, 734–737 (2004).Article ADS Google Scholar Barrett, M. D. et al. Deterministic quantum teleportation of atomic qubits. Nature 429, 737–739 (2004).Article ADS Google Scholar Pfaff, W. et al. Unconditional quantum teleportation between distant solid-state quantum bits. Science 345, 532–535 (2014).Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar Hermans, S. L. N. et al. Qubit teleportation between non-neighbouring nodes in a quantum network. Nature 605, 663–668 (2022).Article ADS Google Scholar Fiaschi, N. et al. Optomechanical quantum teleportation. Nat. Photon. 15, 817–821 (2021).Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar Yin, J. et al. Satellite-based entanglement distribution over 1200 kilometers. Science 356, 1140–1144 (2017).Article ADS Google Scholar Zhong, H. S. et al. 12-photon entanglement and scalable scattershot boson sampling with optimal entangled-photon pairs from parametric down-conversion. Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 250505 (2018).Article ADS Google Scholar Hensen, B. et al. Loophole-free Bell inequality violation using electron spins separated by 1.3 kilometres. Nature 526, 682–686 (2015).Article ADS Google Scholar Shalm, L. K. et al. Strong loophole-free test of local realism. Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 250402 (2015).Article ADS Google Scholar Giustina, M. et al. Significant-loophole-free test of Bell’s theorem with entangled photons. Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 250401 (2015).Article ADS Google Scholar Acín, A. et al. Device-independent security of quantum cryptography against collective attacks. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 230501 (2007).Article ADS Google Scholar Giovannetti, V., Lloyd, S. & Maccone, L. Quantum metrology. Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 010401 (2006).Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar Cirac, J. I., Ekert, A. K., Huelga, S. F. & Macchiavello, C. Distributed quantum computation over noisy channels. Phys. Rev. A 59, 4249 (1999).Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar Azuma, K. et al. Quantum repeaters: from quantum networks to the quantum internet. Rev. Mod. Phys. 95, 045006 (2023).Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar Zukowski, M., Zeilinger, A., Horne, M. A. & Ekert, A. K. ‘Event-ready-detectors’ Bell experiment via entanglement swapping. Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 4287 (1993).Article ADS Google Scholar Pan, J. W., Bouwmeester, D., Weinfurter, H. & Zeilinger, A. Experimental entanglement swapping: entangling photons that never interacted. Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 3891 (1998).Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar Kwiat, P. G. et al. New high-intensity source of polarization-entangled photon pairs. Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 4337 (1995).Article ADS Google Scholar Zopf, M. et al. Entanglement swapping with semiconductor-generated photons violates Bell’s inequality. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 160502 (2019).Article ADS Google Scholar Basso Basset, F. et al. Entanglement swapping with photons generated on demand by a quantum dot. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 160501 (2019).Article ADS Google Scholar Gisin, N., Pironio, S. & Sangouard, N. Proposal for implementing device-independent quantum key distribution based on a heralded qubit amplifier. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 070501 (2010).Article ADS Google Scholar Slussarenko, S. et al. Quantum channel correction outperforming direct transmission. Nat. Commun. 13, 1832 (2022).Article ADS Google Scholar Sangouard, N. et al. Faithful entanglement swapping based on sum-frequency generation. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 120403 (2011).Article ADS Google Scholar Kołodyński, J. et al. Device-independent quantum key distribution with single-photon sources. Quantum 4, 260 (2020).Article Google Scholar Sliwa, C. & Banaszek, K. Conditional preparation of maximal polarization entanglement. Phys. Rev. A 67, 030101 (2003).Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar Wagenknecht, C. et al. Experimental demonstration of a heralded entanglement source. Nat. Photon. 4, 549–552 (2010).Article ADS Google Scholar Barz, S., Cronenberg, G., Zeilinger, A. & Walther, P. Heralded generation of entangled photon pairs. Nat. Photon. 4, 553–556 (2010).Article ADS Google Scholar Wang, X. L. et al. Quantum teleportation of multiple degrees of freedom of a single photon. Nature 518, 516–519 (2015).Article ADS Google Scholar Kawaguchi, Y., Tamura, Y., Haruna, T., Yamamoto, Y. & Hirano, M. Ultra low-loss pure silica core fiber. SEI Tech. Rev. 80, 50 (2015).

Google Scholar Sun, Q. C. et al. Quantum teleportation with independent sources and prior entanglement distribution over a network. Nat. Photon. 10, 671–675 (2016).Article ADS Google Scholar Liu, J. L. et al. Creation of memory-memory entanglement in a metropolitan quantum network. Nature 629, 579–585 (2024).Article ADS Google Scholar Gisin, N. & Massar, S. Optimal quantum cloning machines. Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 2153 (1997).Article ADS Google Scholar Massar, S. & Popescu, S. Optimal extraction of information from finite quantum ensembles. Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 1259 (1995).Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar Zhong, H. S. et al. Quantum computational advantage using photons. Science 370, 1460–1463 (2020).Article ADS Google Scholar Qin, J. et al. Unconditional and robust quantum metrological advantage beyond N00N states. Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 070801 (2023).Article ADS Google Scholar Nielsen, J. A., Neergaard-Nielsen, J. S., Gehring, T. & Andersen, U. L. Deterministic quantum phase estimation beyond N00N states. Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 123603 (2023).Article ADS Google Scholar Liu, Z. H. et al. Quantum learning advantage on a scalable photonic platform. Science 389, 1332–1335 (2025).Article ADS MathSciNet Google Scholar De Riedmatten, H. et al. Long distance quantum teleportation in a quantum relay configuration. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 047904 (2004).Article ADS Google Scholar Download referencesWe thank X. Ding, Y.-P. Guo and S.-Q. Gong for helpful discussions and assistance and Y. Hu for support with the time digital converterThis work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 62405025 and 12474487), the National Key R&D Program of China (grant no. 2019YFA0308700), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant nos. Y2023128, XDB1340000 and XDA0520401), the Anhui Initiative in Quantum Information Technologies (grant no. AHY060000), Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology (grant nos. ZD0202010000 and 2021ZD0301400), the Independent Deployment Project of HFNL (grant no. ZB2025010300), Fundamental and Interdisciplinary Disciplines Breakthrough Plan of the Ministry of Education of China (grant no. JYB2025XDXM115) and the New Cornerstone Science Foundation. D.W. discloses support for the research of this work from the National Science and Technology Major Project (grant no. 2025ZD0301000) and the Shanghai Pilot Program for Basic Research (grant no. TQ20240204).These authors contributed equally: Li-Chao Peng, Dian Wu, Yuan Li.Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, ChinaLi-Chao Peng, Yuan Li, Xue-Mei Gu, Jian Qin, Han-Sen Zhong, Hui Wang, Yu-Ming He, Ming-Chen Chen, Li Li, Nai-Le Liu, Chao-Yang Lu & Jian-Wei PanNew Cornerstone Science Laboratory, CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, ChinaLi-Chao Peng, Yuan Li, Xue-Mei Gu, Jian Qin, Hui Wang, Yu-Ming He, Ming-Chen Chen, Li Li, Nai-Le Liu, Chao-Yang Lu & Jian-Wei PanHefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, ChinaLi-Chao Peng, Dian Wu, Yuan Li, Xue-Mei Gu, Jian Qin, Hui Wang, Yu-Ming He, Ming-Chen Chen, Li Li, Nai-Le Liu, Chao-Yang Lu & Jian-Wei PanState Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai, ChinaDian WuCenter for Photonic Quantum Precision Measurement, School of Interdisciplinary Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, ChinaKe-Mi XuShanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Shanghai, ChinaHan-Sen ZhongSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarC.-Y.L. and J.-W.P. conceived the research and supervised the project. L.-C.P. and C.-Y.L. designed the experiment, L.-C.P., D.W. and Y.L. constructed the experimental set-up. L.-C.P. and Y.L. developed the theoretical simulations. X.-M.G., J.Q., K.-M.X., H.-S.Z., H.W., Y.-M.H., M.-C.C., L.L. and N.-L.L. contributed materials/analysis tools and discussed the results. L.-C.P., D.W., Y.L. and C.-Y.L. analysed the experimental data. L.-C.P., C.-Y.L. and J.-W.P. wrote the paper with input from all authors.Correspondence to Chao-Yang Lu or Jian-Wei Pan.The authors declare no competing interests.Nature Physics thanks Zixin Huang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Supplementary Figs. 1–13, Discussion and Table 1.Source data for Supplementary Figs. 10 and 11.Simulation source data.Statistical source data.Visualization source data.Statistical source data.Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.Reprints and permissionsPeng, LC., Wu, D., Li, Y. et al. Unconditional advantage of quantum teleportation over direct transmission of single photons through a lossy channel. Nat. Phys. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-026-03348-7Download citationReceived: 16 December 2025Accepted: 27 May 2026Published: 23 June 2026Version of record: 23 June 2026DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-026-03348-7Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative