Topological robustness of classical and quantum optical skyrmions in atmospheric turbulence

The degradation of classical and quantum structured light induced by complex media, such as atmospheric turbulence, constitutes a critical barrier to its practical implementation in communication, energy transport, imaging and sensing. Here we construct both classical and quantum optical skyrmions and transmit them through experimentally simulated atmospheric turbulence, revealing the embedded topological resilience of their structure. For nonlocal quantum skyrmions, we show that although photon entanglement rapidly degrades, the topological characteristics of the states remain stable. Similarly, while the vectorial structure of local classical skyrmions is strongly distorted by the medium, their topology is preserved across a wide range of turbulence strengths. Our experimental results are supported by rigorous analytical and numerical modelling, validating that the quantum-classical equivalence of the topological behaviour is due to the non-separability of the states and the one-sided nature of the channel. This equivalence enables robust information transport in noisy environments, opening pathways for resilient terrestrial and satellite-to-ground communication.