Two
teams of researchers have extended the reach of quantum teleportation to
unprecedented lengths.
The groundbreaking research could be a step
towards creating quantum computers and other technology operating at speeds far
in excess of current limits.
And while teleporting humans may still be a
long way off, researchers believe the latest work is a big step forward.
Quantum researchers have managed to send a
single proton 97km across a lake in China. It is hoped the work could lead to
ultra fast communications systems.
The team was able to teleport a qubit (a
standard unit of data in quantum computing) 97 kilometers across a lake using a
small set of photons without fiberoptic cables or other intermediaries.
They used a complex laser targetting device
for the experiment.
Quantum teleportation relies on a
phenomenon known as entanglement, through which quantum particles share a
fragile, invisible link across space.
Two entangled photons, for instance, can
have correlated, opposite polarization states—if one photon is vertically
polarized, for instance, the other must be horizontally polarized.
But, thanks to the intricacies of quantum
mechanics, each photon’s specific polarization remains undecided until one of
them is measured.
At that instant the other photon’s
polarization snaps into its opposing orientation, even if many kilometers have
come between the entangled pair.
This is the phenomenon that scientists
believe can be harnessed for quantum teleportation.
The group Chinese group created entangled
photons by stimulating a crystal with ultraviolet light.
This produces a pair of photons with the
same wavelength, but opposite (and unknown) polarization values.
One photon was sent 97km across Qinghai
Lake (using a telescope to focus the beam), while the second was analysed
locally, according to the team's research paper, published in Nature.
The
breakthrough could change the way we communicate by providing ultrafast
communication without a need for cables.
Using these photons, the researchers copied
the quantum state from the laboratory to the far station, achieving quantum
teleportation over a much larger distance than previously obtained.
The laser targeting device developed by
Juan Yin was necessary to counteract the
minute seismic and atmosphere shifts that would otherwise break the link
between the two remote locations.
That distance surpasses the previous
record, set by a group that included several of the same researchers, by 16
kilometers.
However, a second team has already bettered
it.
A European and Canadian group claims to
have teleported information from one of the Canary Islands to another, 143
kilometers away. However, the paper has not been peer-reviewed or published.
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