Teleportation image from quantum-tech.ru
How many of you have heard about teleportation? I assume, this terminology isn’t new for a reader. Everywhere, starting from the sci-fi movies and finishing with the computer games, one may meet the variety of teleportation methods and devices.
The term “teleport” appeared as early as second half of 19th century and described as an “apparatus ‘by which man can be reduced into infinitesimal atoms, transmitted through a wire and reproduced safe and sound at the other end!’”
Through the time, several theories evolved on the possible teleportation methods, such as quantum teleportation, matter/energy conversion, extra dimensional teleportation, etc. The most progressive one and the most popular method is a quantum teleportation, when the exact state of the particles is transferred to another location rather than the matter itself. What does it mean? Instead of measuring and destroying an object and then reconstructing it by using a “printer”, the scientists send the information about the particles’ state from one side and put the particles on another side into the same state without replication via a pair of bounded in space particles. More scientific explanation of the process is in the video below (John Rarity, Physics World):
The most fascinating part about quantum teleportation is that it recently became a possible reality not only for the world of quantum particles, but also for the “classical” world. Inspired by “beaming technology” of Enterprise from Star Trek and lead by Alexander Szameit from the University of Jena (Germany), the team of scientists encoded some information into a special form of a laser beam and successfully teleported it through the space. The transfer occurred without loss in time, which could be qualified as an instantaneous teleportation. How this experiment is different form the previous experiments with particles? Well, the light particles don’t belong only to the realm of the quantum particles. They also have the classical world properties, described in optics, which means the teleportation is potentially possible for the objects with the regular physical properties. The one current drawback, admitted Szameit, “with this form of teleportation, we can, however, not bridge any given distance.” That means in the nearest future people won’t be able to teleport the information on the long distances.
Despite all drawbacks, this breakthrough opens a real opportunity in teleportation not only the objects of the world of particles, but the objects of the classic world as well. And who knows, maybe within a couple decades a first life form “beaming” will occur.
~Alex Budkina
