Teleportation-Based Quantum Communication: A Comparative Review of Security Principles and Protocol Architectures

Abstract

Widely deployed public-key cryptography is vulnerable to sufficiently capable quantum computers, motivating post-quantum and quantum-cryptographic responses. This structured narrative review examines foundational theory and selected literature, drawing on a screening of 71 publications, of which 38 were retained and cited, principally from 2020 to 2025, to assess quantum teleportation within secure communication architectures. The analysis establishes that teleportation is an entanglement-assisted state-transfer primitive, not an autonomous source of security. It distinguishes conventional quantum key distribution (QKD) from teleportation-assisted QKD, separates entanglement swapping from payload teleportation, and compares teleportation-based quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) with repeater-supported networking. Recent experiments demonstrate capability expansion in high-dimensional states, logical code spaces, non-neighbouring network nodes, heterogeneous hardware interfaces, and coexistence with high-capacity classical fibre traffic. Deployment nevertheless remains constrained by loss, entanglement-generation rate, memory coherence, Bell-measurement efficiency, synchronisation, device trust, authentication, and cost. Teleportation can broaden quantum-network functionality, but confidentiality and authenticity depend on the complete protocol, threat model, verification procedures, and implementation assumptions