‘Viral’ Paper Sparks Speaking Invitations, Strengthens NU-India Ties

A research paper that demonstrated how quantum communications can be implemented using conventional fiber optic infrastructure--which went “viral” in both the mainstream and scientific news media last December--has led to a bevy of speaking engagements in India this year for co-author Prem Kumar, PhD, director of Northwestern’s Center for Photonic Communication and Computing and a professor of electrical and computer engineering.

His appearances in the subcontinent have helped to strengthen and hopefully will further deepen already solid bonds between Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and institutions in India such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). And it’s all serendipitously timed with the 100^th anniversary of the advent of quantum mechanics, which is being celebrated worldwide as the International Year of Quantum Science & Technology (IYQ) by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to raise public awareness about advances in the field.

Titled “Quantum teleportation coexisting with classical communications in optical fiber,” co-authored by several investigators and published by Optica Publishing Group, the research paper was downloaded more than 20,000 times in 10 days and received coverage by two-dozen publications and news outlets ranging from the BBC, to NASA News, to New Scientist, Kumar says, adding that he also was interviewed on two podcasts: Our Narratives and Scientific Sense.

“Our current work showed that you can implement quantum communications, teleportation and various advanced protocols using conventional optical fiber infrastructure that simultaneously carries state-of-the-art classical communications traffic,” he says. “Our demonstration of that through experimentation is what made that work go viral in some way and get picked up by various news agencies.”

The buzz around the paper hit the news media in South Asia, as well, Kumar says. “So, I’ve had reporters [in the Indian subcontinent] calling me, and that got the notice of people in various institutions,” he says. “And because they were planning these [IYQ] events, they figured that I should be invited, as either an institute lecturer, which happened in two of the six cases, and then there were two conference events where … I was the top-billed speaker. Some were at research-related conferences being organized, and others at colloquium-style events commemorating the International Year of Quantum. And one was on World Quantum Day, which is celebrated on April 14 every year. But every day this year is world quantum day.”

The two institute lectures occurred at IIT campuses in Mumbai (the campus is still dubbed Bombay) and Roorkee on January 29 and March 27, respectively. Another talk at IIT Delhi on February 19 was co-hosted by India’s National Academy of Sciences. Kumar gave the plenary talk at the International Symposium on Quantum Information and Communication (ISQIC), 2025 in Kolkata on March 31, and the keynote talk at the Indo-French International Conference on Specialty Fibers, Sensing and Quantum Photonics (ICFSQP) at Mahindra University on April 11. Finally, his World Quantum Day appearance, which actually occurred on April 17 due to a holiday on April 14, took place at Raman Research Institute.

The content of these lectures has overlapped significantly with the overarching theme of how quantum computing will drive network connectivity in the decades ahead, Kumar says. The two conference talks were slightly shorter but also went more in-depth for an experienced audience, while the university appearances had a higher-level focus aimed at graduate students, “painting a visionary picture of the future, interspersed with some recent activities, results and explanation of technologies,” he says.

Kumar hearkens back to the state of classical computing in the 1960s and ‘70s to give context for where quantum stands today. “It led to connectivity among those computing nodes, starting with the ARPANET,” he says. “Initially, mainframe computing turned into distributed computing, and then optical communication led to where all computing is tightly integrated. A data center is just a network of computers interconnected by high-speed fiber optic communications. And so is cloud computing. Now, with the advent of quantum computing, this interlinking has to be with quantum communications, and that’s what’s driving interest in this field.”

The transition already has begun because quantum companies are realizing that to scale quantum computing beyond proof-of-principle demonstrations, they need to make their systems modular, Kumar says. “One system, just like a mainframe [computer], cannot be made large enough,” he says. “So, if you make it modular, then in order to scale to larger dimensional systems, you must interconnect those modules by way of quantum communication. So hence, the emphasis on communication. That needs to be developed simultaneously. Otherwise, we will not be able to scale quantum computing.”

Although the viral paper and the simultaneous occurrence of IYQ helped to boost interest in Kumar’s work in India, the nation has had a growing interest previously in quantum science and technology, with an effort in place that parallels the National Quantum Initiative that the U.S. government began funding in 2019. Kumar who hails from India originally, had a 40-year history of collaborating with researchers and giving lectures there before the publication of last December’s paper, with joint funding from the U.S. and India.

“IIT Roorkee in northern India is seeking to expand on those collaborations, and that’s something we need to work toward,” he says. “Similarly, the national quantum mission is funding efforts at IIT Bombay, and they reached out to me—and they have visited Northwestern before, trying to create partnerships. They have become members of the Chicago Quantum Exchange, as well. … Other institutes that I’ve gone to and given talks at, they all are interested in creating some kind of partnerships.”

Coming out of his ambassadorial activities of the past few months, that interest in setting up collaborative research and exchange programs has only grown, Kumar says; a memorandum of understanding is already in place between Northwestern and IIT Bombay, for example, and IIT Roorkee would like to send students to Northwestern as part of such exchanges.

In addition, India’s Department of Science and Technology—akin to the National Science Foundation—sent a delegation to several universities, including Northwestern, to explore collaboration possibilities. “Clearly the interest is not only on the academic side, but it’s on the government side, as well. Both sides see a win-win,” he says.

While the level of research and entrepreneurship around quantum computing and quantum communications is significantly higher in the U.S., the workforce talent pool is much deeper in India, Kumar says. “The U.S. has trouble recruiting in STEM areas generally, but in quantum science and technology, it’s even worse because it’s highly specialized,” he says. “So, there is a benefit to be had on both sides by promoting some kind of collaborative exchange.”