A computer scientist and a quantum physicist peer from the windows of Stony Brook University’s Quantum Watchtower, a 375-square-foot galvanized steel chamber perched atop the Health Sciences Center. Reaching it requires a 14-story elevator ascent that feels like teleportation into a quantum future, followed by two final flights of stairs to a heavy door — a portal to a lab.
The devices within this Quantum Watchtower, Stony Brook researchers say, will one day protect Stony Brook University Hospital patient data against cybersecurity attacks by teleporting quantum information.
To achieve this feat, researchers are in the process of connecting three free-space optical (FSO) links at Stony Brook University, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Yale University to expand America’s largest quantum network with a wireless component.
Computer scientist Dimitrios Katramatos, a senior project manager at SBU with a guest appointment at BNL, presses his traditional bird-watching telescope against the northeastern-facing glass overlooking the Long Island Sound. “You have to see this,” he says, beckoning. “Look through here — you’ll see the dome Yale is building.”
Visible through the lens is a lone white speck suspended over the Sound’s cerulean waves. Inside that distant dome, there are plans to build a partner quantum FSO telescope at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. This FSO receiver is engineered to capture entangled photons sent via a light beam across the water from Stony Brook’s Quantum Watchtower.
“Extending our quantum communication network to include a wireless link is a major leap forward in our development of the Quantum Internet of Things,” said Stony Brook University President Andrea Goldsmith at the August 21 “First Light” event at BNL, where Stony Brook and BNL researchers demonstrated the successful transmission of light particles containing quantum information through open air between the two institutions.
“By unlocking wireless quantum connectivity and incorporating it into the world’s first terrestrial quantum information network, we are transforming secure data transmission while igniting Long Island as an innovation hub,” said Goldsmith. “Ultimately, this places New York State at the forefront of quantum information science and its application to secure communication for finance, healthcare, and cybersecurity.”
At SBU, an institution with a rich history in physics, quantum physicist Eden Figueroa, director of Stony Brook’s Quantum Institute, endowed presidential professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and joint appointee at BNL, gestures toward the southeastern window. “Please show her this one now,” he directs.
Past a horizon of camouflaging trees, the ivory water tower at BNL, 13 miles east in Upton, New York, emerges as a stark landmark. Just to its left sits the Quantum Lighthouse, a nearly identical steel lab built by BNL. It houses another FSO telescope that works as a tandem receiver alongside Yale when Stony Brook fires an entangled pair of photons to complete the wireless quantum circuit.
After months of construction on SBU’s Quantum Watchtower and the initial assembly of the FSO telescope in the basement of SBU’s Physics Building, the components were hoisted by heavy machinery to the rooftop of the Health Sciences Center, the retro-futuristic, cubic building that appeared in the 2025 Marvel film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
To reach the line of sight necessary for the team’s research, the weather-tight Quantum Watchtower is built on an elevated, galvanized structural steel frame integrated directly into the sub-building’s foundation.
“We are witnessing the second quantum revolution, which will radically change our current information technology, and Long Island is uniquely positioned to serve as one of its epicenters,” said Figueroa. “By mastering wireless quantum networking and teleportation right here in our labs to connect these novel systems to the largest fiber-based entanglement distribution network in the U.S., we are pioneering physics-protected communications for the world and building a next-generation technology workforce.”
Stony Brook’s potential to revolutionize data security has already garnered massive institutional support. In September 2025, Stony Brook secured a $300 million investment from New York state, alongside a $4 million National Science Foundation grant.
From a federal standpoint, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14413 on June 22, 2026, to establish a whole-of-government strategy aimed at accelerating quantum research, development and commercialization.
It states: “Quantum information science and technology (QIST) will provide transformational capabilities that will drive American innovation, power economic growth, generate high-paying jobs, and bolster national security.”
The directive focuses on safeguarding national security and maintaining competitive leadership in quantum information science in response to international advancements in quantum communication and cybersecurity.
“[The wireless expansion] represents an important milestone toward the realization of a comprehensive quantum network throughout the Northeast region. I am greatly encouraged by the strong support this pioneering initiative has received from the university, SUNY, New York State and the NSF,” said Department of Physics and Astronomy Chair Chang Kee Jung. “Under the leadership of Professor Figueroa, this effort is fostering the development and engagement of many of the most talented minds within our department and the broader scientific community.”
Though the FSO telescopes don’t visually resemble those used to observe celestial objects, the researchers’ extensive experience with astronomy projects informed the design of the telescope hardware that will soon be fully installed at SBU, BNL and Yale.
“It’s exciting to take capabilities we’ve spent years refining for astronomy and adapt them for a completely different scientific problem,” said Justine Haupt, the BNL engineer leading their part of the FSO link project. “It’s a unique example of how technologies developed for one area of science can drive innovation in another.”
Now, with the second of three telescopes built, SBU’s Quantum Watchtower stands ready to prove that the future of the internet doesn’t just provide more bandwidth — it’s protected by quantum physics.
In the middle of SBU’s Quantum Watchtower, the two scientists – Figueroa and Katramatos – stand amidst wires, bolts and circuits galore. Beneath a black veil, there hides a giant circular mirror.
“Take a look in the mirror,” Figueroa says, as he uncloaks it and his head reflects comically twice its normal size.
The 25-inch mirror functions as a precision beacon of laser beams, utilizing specialized motors and vibration isolation to continuously adjust alignment and counteract atmospheric distortions like fog or turbulence.
This precision is vital for the final phase of the experiment: a carefully choreographed sequence where infrared beams bounce off these mirrors to achieve perfect alignment in order to deliver a photon.
Once the FSO telescopes are aligned, an entangled pair will travel over the FSO link and through fiber-optic cables to the researcher’s labs, storing the quantum data in atomic quantum memories.
Unlike the physical transport of matter, quantum teleportation involves the transfer of quantum information between photons, the fundamental particles of light, by replicating it at a distant location. Relying on the entangled connection of photons, the data never has to travel through intervening space, ensuring that information remains secure.
The expansion into wireless territory is the natural evolution of America’s largest quantum network, which already spans 161 miles of fiber-optic cable across Long Island into Manhattan.
“Brookhaven Lab has played an instrumental role in this quantum network from its inception, contributing not only infrastructure for one of the initial nodes but also a wealth of scientific and engineering expertise,” said Gabriella Carini, associate laboratory director for Brookhaven’s Discovery Technologies Directorate. “It is especially rewarding to see the free-space optical link become a reality, as it reflects Brookhaven’s leading role in developing and deploying technologies that will help expand quantum networks beyond the limits of fiber.”
— Jess Stallone