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Chinese teleport photons over 100 km


Big Bad Voodoo

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http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-05/chinese-physicists-teleport-protons-over-100-kilometers

Teleportation, sci-fi-y as it sounds, is actually not fictional or even new;

two years ago

, Chinese physicists broke the then-current record for quantum teleportation by teleporting photons over 10 miles. But a new effort from that same team demolishes that record, beaming the photons over 97 kilometers.

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how big are photons, when can they teleport bigger? can we teleport safely?

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So this is the movement over distance .....of light? I don't understand how this is remarkable. If it's something new i guess I'm a bit too slow to understand it.

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how big are photons, when can they teleport bigger? can we teleport safely?

Briefly, quantum teleportation refers to the process of:

  • Destroying an object at position A,
  • In the process, encoding all the information about that object on to some carrier wave,
  • Sending the carrier wave to position B,
  • Destroying the carrier wave but in the process constructing a new object identical to the original one.

So they don't really teleport a photon, they simply teleport the information and ``write'' that information on a new photon.

As and then mentions, since a photon is a quanta of light this does not seem that remarkable. The key thing (as mentioned in some of the comments in linked story) is information security; this sort of thing is one approach to quantum encryption.

But ultimately it is just a bit of a parlour trick; to quantum teleport something you need the original object to exist in a coherent quantum state and to be able to entangle that state with a carrier wave. For photons, single electrons, etc. this is doable. For a buckyball (C60) this is probably possible at extremely low temperatures. For a single virus or microbe, it could well be impossible. For an actual macroscopic object it is almost certainly impossible, unless the object is practically at 0 K in a complete vacuum in flat space.

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I wouldn't advise people trying to teleport to work. Maybe someday.

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Briefly, quantum teleportation refers to the process of:

  • Destroying an object at position A,
  • In the process, encoding all the information about that object on to some carrier wave,
  • Sending the carrier wave to position B,
  • Destroying the carrier wave but in the process constructing a new object identical to the original one.

So they don't really teleport a photon, they simply teleport the information and ``write'' that information on a new photon.

As and then mentions, since a photon is a quanta of light this does not seem that remarkable. The key thing (as mentioned in some of the comments in linked story) is information security; this sort of thing is one approach to quantum encryption.

But ultimately it is just a bit of a parlour trick; to quantum teleport something you need the original object to exist in a coherent quantum state and to be able to entangle that state with a carrier wave. For photons, single electrons, etc. this is doable. For a buckyball (C60) this is probably possible at extremely low temperatures. For a single virus or microbe, it could well be impossible. For an actual macroscopic object it is almost certainly impossible, unless the object is practically at 0 K in a complete vacuum in flat space.

I always like your answer. Guys listen him.

Sepul I have many questions but soon I will be on vacation (one more week grrr) then I will ask them.

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Ok great, say they make a Teleport system and Pinky and the Brain get hold of it. Yeah you know those two guys love to mess with stuff. For example: The computer hackers are drooling over this so they can break in and hack it all to pieces maybe give it a virus and call it mount Everest to replace the Trojan issues we have now. The terrorist want it so they can blow stuff up and thieves want a quick getaway. Sounds perfect! Lets kill it then send it over there! wonderful, how much money are they spending on this disaster?

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Don't radio or TELEvision waves "tele port" photons? (maybe not, just wondering)

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They've invented a teleporting device? Surely nothing can stand in the way of their taking over the world.

:unsure2:

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Don't radio or TELEvision waves "tele port" photons? (maybe not, just wondering)

No, television waves are photons.

Teleporting photons is confusing because all parts in the process (initial object, transmission medium, and final object) are photons.

To teleport a photon you entangle one photon with some photons at spot A, then entangle those intermediate photons with a final photon at spot B. It is easier to understand if you talk about teleporting electrons: entangle one electron with some photons at spot A, then entangle those photons with another electron at spot B.

Of course technically it is easier to teleport photons because they are less likely to decohere.

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One step closer to teleportation I suppose. Though based on physics we still have another good 1000yrs before we achieve that...then again with depleating human brain waves we may never reach it. (aka to many stupid people not enough scientist.)

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Correct me if I am wrong, but don't you have to somehow first move the second of a pair of entangled photons to the delivery site? And in practical terms that means someone has to carry it there.

So dispite the teleport, this is going to be a lot slower then regular radio/laser communications. At least at first.

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I wish I knew how much power they needed to "teleport" two photons... would be interesting to calculate =the requirement of "teleporting" a garden chair... :devil:

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Briefly, quantum teleportation refers to the process of:

  • Destroying an object at position A,
  • In the process, encoding all the information about that object on to some carrier wave,
  • Sending the carrier wave to position B,
  • Destroying the carrier wave but in the process constructing a new object identical to the original one.

So they don't really teleport a photon, they simply teleport the information and ``write'' that information on a new photon.

As and then mentions, since a photon is a quanta of light this does not seem that remarkable. The key thing (as mentioned in some of the comments in linked story) is information security; this sort of thing is one approach to quantum encryption.

But ultimately it is just a bit of a parlour trick; to quantum teleport something you need the original object to exist in a coherent quantum state and to be able to entangle that state with a carrier wave. For photons, single electrons, etc. this is doable. For a buckyball (C60) this is probably possible at extremely low temperatures. For a single virus or microbe, it could well be impossible. For an actual macroscopic object it is almost certainly impossible, unless the object is practically at 0 K in a complete vacuum in flat space.

DESTROYING then RECREATING is not teleportation.

You eat an apple, then plant an apple tree to create another apple, it's not the same apple!

Unless you can wrap the macroscopic object inside a tunnel by not cutting it in different part, then it's call teleportation, otherwise it's just a mimic clone

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Correct me if I am wrong, but don't you have to somehow first move the second of a pair of entangled photons to the delivery site? And in practical terms that means someone has to carry it there.

So dispite the teleport, this is going to be a lot slower then regular radio/laser communications. At least at first.

No it is the exact same speed as regular radio/laser communications. The entangled photons get to the delivery site the same way a radio or laser beam would; through a fibre optic cable or free space (I'm not sure if the latter has been realized yet in quantum teleportation though).

Entangled photons travel at the same speed and in the same manner as regular photons. (In some sense, a laser is an ensemble of entangled photons.)

DESTROYING then RECREATING is not teleportation.

You eat an apple, then plant an apple tree to create another apple, it's not the same apple!

Unless you can wrap the macroscopic object inside a tunnel by not cutting it in different part, then it's call teleportation, otherwise it's just a mimic clone

Well that is just semantics. The scientists working on this technique have dubbed it ``quantum teleportation'' because the second apple is identical in every measurable respect to the original. The transmission medium is why it is called teleportation.

If you just made a wormhole and shoved the object through, I would argue that would be plain old portation, albeit via a rather exotic direction.

I wish I knew how much power they needed to "teleport" two photons... would be interesting to calculate =the requirement of "teleporting" a garden chair... :devil:

It certainly isn't linear... at the limits of our current knowledge you'd have to:

  • get your garden chair into suspension in a vacuum chamber (the chair can't be touching any walls, the ground, any air, etc... possibly it might have to be a ``zero gravity chamber'' as well, and a good Faraday cage),
  • then you'd have to cool the chair down so the deBroglie wavelength of all the atoms in the chair were roughly the same length scale as the chair (this would be almost 0 K),
  • then you could begin entangling the chair with a sufficient number of photons (a vast number, actually, since photons have much more limited degrees of freedom than the particles in your chair),
  • then direct those photons somewhere else (while making sure that the photons don't decohere, so send them through a perfect vacuum or a perfect optical fibre),
  • then interact that still-perfectly-coherent ensemble of photons with an assortment of atoms that is identical in number and species to that of the original chair (and of course also suspendent in a vacuum chamber at almost 0 K)
  • tada! You'd get your chair!

Next time try Purolator, it's cheaper.

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The Australian and Japanese teams already beat them to this:

2002 - An Australian Team Teleports photons of a Laser Beam

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/2049048.stm

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/18/first-light-wave-quantum-teleportation-achieved-opens-door-to-u/

The chinese are merely advancing on known technology

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Well that is just semantics. The scientists working on this technique have dubbed it ``quantum teleportation'' because the second apple is identical in every measurable respect to the original.

That's still the definition of "clone", not teleportation. If you don't force destroy the first object, what would you call the 2nd object? Copy?

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No it is the exact same speed as regular radio/laser communications. The entangled photons get to the delivery site the same way a radio or laser beam would; through a fibre optic cable or free space (I'm not sure if the latter has been realized yet in quantum teleportation though).

Entangled photons travel at the same speed and in the same manner as regular photons. (In some sense, a laser is an ensemble of entangled photons.)

Ahhhh... But, still the entangled photons have to be sent to the 2nd location before the teleportation can occur, right? it is just the later adjustments to the first group of photons that appears to travel instantaneously, right?

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Briefly, quantum teleportation refers to the process of:

  • Destroying an object at position A,
  • In the process, encoding all the information about that object on to some carrier wave,
  • Sending the carrier wave to position B,
  • Destroying the carrier wave but in the process constructing a new object identical to the original one.

So they don't really teleport a photon, they simply teleport the information and ``write'' that information on a new photon.

As and then mentions, since a photon is a quanta of light this does not seem that remarkable. The key thing (as mentioned in some of the comments in linked story) is information security; this sort of thing is one approach to quantum encryption.

But ultimately it is just a bit of a parlour trick; to quantum teleport something you need the original object to exist in a coherent quantum state and to be able to entangle that state with a carrier wave. For photons, single electrons, etc. this is doable. For a buckyball (C60) this is probably possible at extremely low temperatures. For a single virus or microbe, it could well be impossible. For an actual macroscopic object it is almost certainly impossible, unless the object is practically at 0 K in a complete vacuum in flat space.

I'm probably missing something here, but why would you go through all the trouble of transporting the information on a carrier wave? I thought the whole point of using quantum entanglement was that the information of one of the entangled pair is instantaneously transferred to the other of the pair over massive distances (a.k.a. "spooky action at a distance")?

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That's still the definition of "clone", not teleportation. If you don't force destroy the first object, what would you call the 2nd object? Copy?

That is your definition of ``clone''. If you want to call it ``quantum cloning'' then that is fine.

If you have an object at location A that disintegrates and an identical object (in every way, right down to the quantum level) is constituted at location B I would say that the object was ``teleported''.

To me, ``cloning'' is the same as ``copying'', and does not imply a translation in space.

Ultimately, I think, the name comes from the fact that the information is transmitted, and I think there is the philosophical viewpoint that the information is the important thing. After all, we are all made of various configurations of protons, neutrons, and electrons. These particles are all identical, it is the specific arrangement of them that defines an object. Moving this information one from pile of building blocks to another could be called ``teleporting''.

But like I said, it is all semantics. The popular term for this is ``teleportation'', so even if you think the name unfortunate I am not sure you can change it now...

Ahhhh... But, still the entangled photons have to be sent to the 2nd location before the teleportation can occur, right? it is just the later adjustments to the first group of photons that appears to travel instantaneously, right?

Yes. It is all at light speed. The first object is not destroyed (or rather, randomly unentangled) until the photons are mapped onto the raw object in the second location.

I'm probably missing something here, but why would you go through all the trouble of transporting the information on a carrier wave? I thought the whole point of using quantum entanglement was that the information of one of the entangled pair is instantaneously transferred to the other of the pair over massive distances (a.k.a. "spooky action at a distance")?

The trick is that we are sort of ``swapping entanglement''. I start with a delicate quantum state at position A. Moving this object may not be possible; any physical perturbation could destroy it. But if I can entangle this quantum state with a carrier wave, then I can send the carrier wave where-ever I want it to go (position B).

Then at position B I entangle the carrier wave with a ``blank'' object. This is where the ``spooky action at a distance'' comes in to play; the original quantum state at position A is erased (randomized) and the ``blank'' object at position B now contains the quantum state. I guess you can think of the carrier wave as a method of transferring entanglement over a long distance.

This is why quantum teleportation is useful for secure communication, as mentioned above. If I have some secure data that I want to send somewhere I could (in principle, anyway), entangle a ``quantum flash drive'' with my computer, then send that drive by courier to where-ever. But it would be a lot easier to entangle an optical signal with my computer and send the signal over a fiber-optic network to the destination.

------------

Actually quantum teleportation is not, strictly speaking, ``secure'' because anyone could tap into the signal. It is, however, impossible to tap into the signal without alerting the sender to your presence - since they will know as soon as you disentangle the package.

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How do they know that the Photons they sent are the same ones that arrived ?..they must have put a label on them like "made in china",or coloured them yellow.Hey guys a photon has just knocked on my door.I wont answer the door as it might be an illegal asking for asylum.Resistance is futile,Eliminate........

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Like people have said it has been done before. It is only news because China have done it, the new financial super power. No doubt in a few years the conspiracy theorists will claim the technology came from a captured UFO.

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