- Scientists have performed successful teleportation on
atoms for the first time, the journal Nature reports. The feat was achieved
by two teams of researchers working independently on the problem in the
US and Austria.
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- The ability to transfer key properties of one particle
to another without using any physical link has until now only been achieved
with laser light.
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- Experts say being able to do the same with massive particles
like atoms could lead to new superfast computers.
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- This development is a long way from the transporters
used by Jean-Luc Picard and Captain Kirk in the famous Star Trek TV series.
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- When physicists talk about "teleportation",
they are describing the transfer of "quantum states" between
separate atoms.
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- These would be such things as an atom's energy, motion,
magnetic field and other physical properties.
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- And in the computers of tomorrow, this information would
form the qubits (the quantum form of the digital bits 1 and 0) of data
processing through the machines.
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- Atomic dance
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- What the teams at the University of Innsbruck and the
US National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist) did was teleport
qubits from one atom to another with the help of a third auxiliary atom.
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- It relies on a strange behaviour that exists at the atomic
scale known as "entanglement", whereby two particles can have
related properties even when they are far apart. Einstein called it a "spooky
action".
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- The two groups used different techniques for achieving
teleportation, but both followed the same basic protocol.
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- First, a pair of highly entangled, charged atoms (or
ions) are created: B and C. Next, the state to be teleported is created
in a third ion, A.
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- Then, one ion from the pair - let's say B - is entangled
with A, and the internal state of both is measured.
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- Finally, the quantum state of ion A is sent to ion C,
transforming it. This destroys the original quantum state of A.
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- The teleportation took place in milliseconds and at the
push of a button, the first time such a deterministic mechanism has been
developed for the process.
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- 'Great potential'
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- The landmark experiments are being viewed as a major
advance in the quest to achieve ultra-fast computers, inside which teleportation
could provide a form of invisible "quantum wiring".
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- These machines would be able to handle far bigger and
more complex loads than today's super-computers, and at many times their
speed.
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- "In a quantum computer it's straightforward enough
to move quantum information around by simply moving the qubits, but you
might want to do things very quickly, so you could use teleportation instead,"
said Nist's Dr David Wineland.
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- Professor Rainer Blatt, of the University of Innsbruck,
told BBC News Online: "This is a milestone.
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- "We are able to teleport in a deliberate way - that
is, at the push of a button. This has been done before, but not in such
a way that you can keep the information there at the end."
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- Professor Blatt's team, an Austrian-US group, performed
the teleportation on calcium ions. The Nist team in Boulder, Colorado,
used ions of the element beryllium.
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- Despite this and some differences in the experimental
methods used by the two groups, both teams reached similar values of fidelity
- around 0.75.
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- Fidelity is a measure of how well the quantum state of
the second ion after teleportation resembles the original quantum state.
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- Commenting in an article published in Nature, physicists
H Jeff Kimble and Steven Van Enk said: "These two experiments represent
a magnificent confluence of experimental advances, ranging from precision
spectroscopy and laser cooling.
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- "The fact that such diverse procedures performed
so superbly in two separate laboratories attests to the flexibility and
great potential of ion trapping for processing quantum information."
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- Step 1: A pair of entangled ions are created: B and C
Step 2: The state to be teleported is created in ion A
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- Step 3: One ion from the pair - in this case B - is entangled
with A and both are measured Step 4: The quantum state of A is sent to
ion C Step 5: The state created for A is teleported to C
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3811785.stm
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