Quantum Information Teleported...

[Aanica]

Quantum information teleported between distant atoms New technique can move fragile quantum data between atoms without destroying it By Patrick Barry Web edition : Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 Text Size Editor's note: The February 10 broadcast of the Kojo Nnamdi show, a program of NPR affiliate WAMU in Washington, D.C., offered an overview of quantum computing with Science News editor in chief Tom Siegfried as a guest speaker. Link to the Kojo Nnamdi show site for February 10, scroll to “Breakthroughs in Quantum Computing” and choose “listen to this segment.”

A qubit walks into a bar, unsure of whether to order drink A or drink B. If the bartender asks the qubit what it wants, the qubit will collapse and be destroyed. But now researchers can instantly teleport the original, intact qubit to another “bar” far away.

In the Jan. 23 Science, a team is reporting what is the first successful transfer of a qubit — an undecided bit of quantum information — between two widely separated, charged atoms. Because the quantum information instantly hops from one atom to the other without ever crossing the space between the two, scientists call the transfer “teleportation.”

Being able to teleport such information between atoms could aid the development of ultrafast quantum computers and extremely secure quantum communication, the researchers point out.

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