Teleportation or Quantum teleportation is when quantum information and atoms of a particular object can be transferred from one location to another. This has been seen in many movies and television series like Star Trek and Jumper. Surprisingly, teleportation may now be a reality. Scientists at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands successfully teleported a diamond three metres across the room.
How was it done?
In Prof. Hanson’s experiment, three entangled particles, a nitrogen atom and two electrons were entangled in a diamond and locked together. These were used to transfer spin information at a distance of three metres.
Four possible states were transmitted, each corresponding to a ‘qubit‘, the quantum equivalent of a digital ‘bit‘.
Each ‘bit‘ of information in a classical computer represents one of two values, normally zero or one.
But a ‘qubit‘ can represent a zero, a one, or a ‘superposition’ of both states at the same time.
It is said that no law of physics prevents teleportation; therefore, to rule out its possibility is a very illogical thing to do. However, human teleportation is still a thing of the faraway future and not possible as of yet. What the Dutch physicists have performed involves quantum entanglement, which Albert Einstein once described as “spooky action at a distance,” a term that very well describes what it is. In quantum entanglement, particles, basically, remain connected so that whatever is done to one particle is also experienced by the one it is connected to.
This demonstration is an extremely important step in developing a fast internet-like relation between ultra-fast quantum computers whose processing power is extremely low compared to that of today’s supercomputers. The researchers have already planned new experiments to move ahead with the idea of teleportation. A more ambitious experiment involving the teleportation of information between buildings on the university campus which will be 1,300 metres apart, is planned in July. We hope this will answer Einstein’s main objection of teleportation, the possibility that a signal passes between entangled particles at the speed of light.
Professor Hanson of Delft University feels that this experiment will be a huge technical challenge as nobody has ever performed this.
Thus, definitely as exciting as it seems, human teleportation could be a real thing in the distant future.
