Researchers Succeed at Quantum Teleportation Breakthrough

[Tom Goldman]

Researchers Succeed at Quantum Teleportation Breakthrough

A successful instance of quantum teleportation with no information loss could be the first step toward effective quantum computing.

Quantum computing is often deemed the future of technology, and humanity may have taken an important step toward it with a breakthrough in quantum teleportation. For the first time ever, researchers have successfully transferred, i.e. teleported, a complex set of quantum information between two points.

The quantum information was carried by "wave packets" of light. PopSci reports that the information was "destroyed in one place and instantly resurrected in another" without any loss, using a very complicated-looking machine called the "teleporter" at the University of Tokyo

Researchers appropriately transferred the Schrodinger's Cat "thought experiment" that surmised a cat could exist in a quantum "superposition" state of being both alive and dead at the same time. Quantum comptuting uses quantum bits (qbits), which opposed to the binary digits of today's computing that use a 0 or 1 can represent both of these states at the same time, vastly increasing efficiency.

Professor Elanor Huntington of the University of New South Wales was part of the experiment's team led by University of Tokyo researchers. Huntington explains: "One of the limitations of high-speed quantum communication at present is that some detail is lost during the teleportation process. It's the Star Trek equivalent of beaming the crew down to a planet and having their organs disappear or materialize in the wrong place."

"The value of this discovery is that it allows us, for the first time, to quickly and reliably move quantum information around," she adds. "This information can be carried by light, and it's a powerful way to represent and process information. Previous attempts to transmit were either very slow or the information might be changed. This process means we will be able to move blocks of quantum information around within a computer or across a network, just as we do now with existing computer technologies."

Quantum computers represent a mind-boggling increase in computing speed. They aren't right around the corner yet, but the result of this experiment at least gives them hope for the future.

Source: PopSci [http://www.unsw.edu.au/news/pad/articles/2011/apr/Quantum_teleport_paper.html]


Permalink

 

[John the Gamer]

Yay! I just hope they don't come and confiscate my secret quantum super computer. Oops. You heard nothing!

I can't wait for games that run at quantum speeds.

 

[CosmicCommander]

Holy moly...

 

[kajinking]

Anyone besides me thought about Crysis 3 while reading this?

 

[Xan Krieger]

Anyone besides me thought about Crysis 3 while reading this?

I did.

Now to figure out how to fit one of those machines in my house.

 

[Jumplion]

I feel that this is appropriate somehow;


[HEADING=2]Need a teleporter over here![/HEADING]

 

[Fingerthing]

There is a hole in the sky, through which things can fly!

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the begginings of the handheld teleporation device.

 

[Tartarga]

They called it the "teleporter", how creative. Obvious names aside that is some pretty damn impressive science they did there. Soon I will be able to teleport food directly into my stomach without having to waste all that energy chewing.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Researchers appropriately transferred the Schrodinger's Cat "thought experiment" that surmised a cat could exist in a quantum "superposition" state of being both alive and dead at the same time. Quantum comptuting uses quantum bits (qbits), which opposed to the binary digits of today's computing that use a 0 or 1 can represent both of these states at the same time, vastly increasing efficiency.

Sorry Tom, but that's a load of crap. Schroedinger's zombie feline works on the basis of probability, that is the contribution of |dead> and |alive> to |cat> (sorry for the bra-ket notation, it's just easier) is both 50% at the time of the toxin's release (As per the original thought experiment), at least until you open the box. This doesn't mean that the cat is both alive and dead, it just means that there is an equal probability of both happening. Logically speaking, the cat is alive and dead at the same time, but that cannot be the case.
/paidattentioninquantummechanicsandlikestomakethemostofit

The idea of superposition is a bit more complex than that, eg that excited states contribute to the total energy of a many particle system. By incorporating more and more excited states into your calculation (known as configuration interaction), you get more accurate results, up to an exact solution at infinitely many terms.

Cool article otherwise!

 

[Tom Hill]

The fastest computer in the entire world.

But when will printers become teleportation devices?

 

[idskusters]

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee no half life can hapen after all

 

[GLo Jones]

If I live long enough to be able to assemble my own quantum computer, I'll most certainly die a happy man.

 

[LTK_70]

So qbits can represent a 0 and a 1 at the same time. I may be a little short-sighted, but if this is the case then how does a quantum computer decide which is which?

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

Anyone else ever read "Timeline", by Michael Crichton?


Because this is pretty much that.

 

[tomtom94]

I understood approximately 50% of that. Never ask me to operate a quantum teleporter and it'll be fine.
Basically, wow, this will be very useful, if bad for the world's collective health.

Also this:

 

[Dogstile]

Well

This is new

I actually have no other thoughts on this

 

[Hyperthetical]

Sorry Tom, but that's a load of crap. Schroedinger's zombie feline works on the basis of probability, that is the contribution of |dead> and |alive> to |cat> (sorry for the bra-ket notation, it's just easier) is both 50% at the time of the toxin's release (As per the original thought experiment), at least until you open the box. This doesn't mean that the cat is both alive and dead, it just means that there is an equal probability of both happening. Logically speaking, the cat is alive and dead at the same time, but that cannot be the case.
/paidattentioninquantummechanicsandlikestomakethemostofit

The idea of superposition is a bit more complex than that, eg that excited states contribute to the total energy of a many particle system. By incorporating more and more excited states into your calculation (known as configuration interaction), you get more accurate results, up to an exact solution at infinitely many terms.

Cool article otherwise!

No, Mr Goldman is correct, in the cat problem, the state of the cat is completely entangled with the state of the Geiger-counter/particle detector, meaning |cat> = a(t)|dead> + b(t)|alive>, a(0) = 0 and b(0) = 1, but these coefficients fluctuate with time (generally 'b' drops and 'a' increases, but, 'b' can never reach zero and 'a' can never reach 1).

In the same way a qubit is superposition of a '0 bit' and a '1 bit' |Q> = a|0> + b|1> (these coefficients can be a little more tricky than those of the cat so we'll ignore their exact nature), so as far as simple analogy goes Tom is right.

And yes he is using the correct definition if superposition as well, your definition sounds more like perturbation expansion than superposition.

If you do not believe me, turn to the font of simple scientific knowledge that is Wikipedia.

And to answer someone else's query, the quantum computer finds out which state the qubit is in by measuring it, after it is measured, the qubit is just like a classical bit, i.e. it has a definite, although probabilistically determined value, sampled from a classical distribution of available values (so there is a probability of measuring 0 or 1 in the case of just one qubit).