Teleportation Goes the Distance "Beam me up Scotty"

You can’t get from one place to another without passing through every point in between. This is true for all matter and energy, whether planets, people or quantum particles.

Technology Research News

You can, however, do the quantum equivalent of faxing particles from one place to another, if the particles in question are photons. Teleportation makes it possible to transmit the quantum states, or structural information, of photons from one place to another.

Researchers at the University of Geneva in Switzerland and the University of Aarhus in Denmark have teleported photons from one laboratory to another lab 55 meters away, and their setup simulated a distance of two kilometers. Previous teleportation experiments have been limited to short distances within laboratories.

Using photons of the same wavelengths used in ordinary optical communications, researchers transmitted the entangled photon over a two-kilometer fiber-optic cable, proving it possible to teleport particles over distances.

The researchers are aiming to use the method in quantum relays that would extend the reach of quantum communications systems, which can theoretically send perfectly secure messages. Practical applications could be ready in five to ten years, according to the researchers. The work appeared in the January 30, 2003 issue of Nature.

http://www.technologyreview.com/offthewire/3001_rnb_021303_4.asp