On November 11, 2025, a research team hailing from the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago made a significant breakthrough in quantum communication. They overcame a long - standing bottleneck, theoretically pushing the connection distance of quantum computers to an impressive 2,000 kilometers.

In the past, quantum computers faced a major obstacle in the form of quantum state decoherence. This issue severely restricted their effective communication distances, limiting them to just a few kilometers. However, the team at the University of Chicago has now turned the tide. Through innovative manufacturing processes, they have dramatically increased the coherence time of a single erbium atom. It has gone from a mere 0.1 milliseconds to over 10 milliseconds, which is a substantial leap forward.

This remarkable increase in coherence time has led to a corresponding leap in the quantum signal transmission distance. As a result, the quantum computer at the University of Chicago can now establish connections with devices located as far as the outskirts of Salt Lake City, Utah.

The team emphasized that this achievement marks a historic moment. For the first time, the technology required to build a global - scale quantum internet is truly within our grasp. The related research findings have been published in the latest issue of Nature Communications, a renowned scientific journal.