Researchers Succeed in Quantum Teleportation of Light Waves

[phyzik]

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-04/quantum-teleportation-breakthrough-could-lead-instantanous-computing

Researchers Succeed in Quantum Teleportation of Light Waves

In a real-life use of Schrödinger's theoretical paradoxical cat, researchers report that they were able to quickly transfer a complex set of quantum information while preserving its integrity. The information, in the form of light, was manipulated in such a way that it existed in two states at the same time, and it was destroyed in one spot and recreated in another. The new breakthrough is a major step toward building safe, effective quantum computers.

No felines were harmed in the making of this experiment, which actually studied wave packets of light that existed in a state of quantum superposition, meaning they existed in two different phases simultaneously. This phenomenon is described in Erwin Schrodinger’s quantum mechanics thought experiment, in which a cat is simultaneously dead and alive, depending on the state of a subatomic particle.

In this experiment, researchers in Australia and Japan were able to transfer quantum information from one place to another without having to physically move it. It was destroyed in one place and instantly resurrected in another, “alive” again and unchanged. This is a major advance, as previous teleportation experiments were either very slow or caused some information to be lost.

The team employed a mind-boggling set of quantum manipulation techniques to achieve this, including squeezing, photon subtraction, entanglement and homodyne detection. The photo above depicts their device, nicknamed the Teleporter, in the lab of Akira Furusawa at the University of Tokyo.

The results pave the way for high-speed, high-fidelity transmission of information, according to Elanor Huntington, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia who was part of the study.

“If we can do this, we can do just about any form of communication needed for any quantum technology,” she said in a news release.

Instead of using ones and zeroes, quantum computers store data as qubits, which can represent one and zero simultaneously. This superposition enables the computers to solve multiple problems at once. The new, faster teleportation process means scientists can move blocks of this quantum information around within a computer or across a network, Huntington said.

Optics researcher Philippe Grangier at the Institut d’Optique in Palaiseau, France, said it was a major breakthrough.

“It shows that the controlled manipulation of quantum objects has progressed steadily and achieved objectives that seemed impossible just a few years ago,” he wrote in an editorial that accompanies the study.

[DarkReign]

That is one crazy setup.

[Nathan Explosion]

Again, see the Terminator thread. It's happening as we speak. :)

[z0sa]

One day humans will be beaming up, Scotty, but I'd hate to be the first/second generation transporters who trust in the technology. You know after prolonged use that shit is going to slightly distort your brain and make you crazy (or some shit).

Plus I always find it extremely unsettling that you *must* technically die in order to be transported. Even if the technology replicated perfectly without destruction, we don't want 2 of anyone wandering around.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Wouldn't the fact that you're destroyed to begin with to be reconstructed again someplace else mean said reconstruction isn't you, but rather just a likeness of you? I mean, even if it was possible to reconstruct memories, personality, etc, wouldn't your original self just disappear? A clone of you isn't you, no matter how many memories of yours it thinks are its own.

[ElNono]

Read about it a few days ago... cool stuff...

Here's a "Quantum Entanglement for Dummies" kind of article:
http://www.davidjarvis.ca/entanglement/quantum-entanglement.shtml

[leemajors]

Wouldn't the fact that you're destroyed to begin with to be reconstructed again someplace else mean said reconstruction isn't you, but rather just a likeness of you? I mean, even if it was possible to reconstruct memories, personality, etc, wouldn't your original self just disappear? A clone of you isn't you, no matter how many memories of yours it thinks are its own.

Sounds like a Dick story.

[Wild Cobra]

One day humans will be beaming up, Scotty, but I'd hate to be the first/second generation transporters who trust in the technology.
I was also thinking this sounded more like the beginnings of a transporter.

[ElNono]

Actually, the theory is not that you're destroyed to begin reconstruction, you're simply both alive and dead at the same time in two (or more) different places. When you actually go check (measure) ONE instance, then all the others instances also fall into one or the other state, wherever they might be.

Obviously, creating the entangled copies of yourself is a lot easier said than done...

[ElNono]

At this stage, the usage is not really human teleportation though, but transfer of light data through teleportation.

[rjv]

At this stage, the usage is not really human teleportation though, but transfer of light data through teleportation.


very true. energy is not the same thing as mass.

[z0sa]

Wouldn't the fact that you're destroyed to begin with to be reconstructed again someplace else mean said reconstruction isn't you, but rather just a likeness of you? I mean, even if it was possible to reconstruct memories, personality, etc, wouldn't your original self just disappear? A clone of you isn't you, no matter how many memories of yours it thinks are its own.

Exactly. As much as it might be you down to the last hair, would it ever really be you?

Also, if we can so easily replicate a person, whos to say we couldn't replicate many people from a single person, given the time and technology? Cloning without the need for anything other than raw materials and a transporter?

It's all very inaccurate speculation at this point, but as much as I love the concept, it horrifies me to think about actually doing it myself.

[TDMVPDPOY]

makes sense if we mining in the solar system and transportation is faster

[DarkReign]

Gentlemen, while cool to think about Star Trek transporters, this discovery only applies (for now) to a very unique form of energy; a photon.

Light/photons are one the greatest mysteries of the universe and, IMO, the secret to everything we call reality. Proving that photons can carry information in a dual-state is momentous, but fledgling.

The amount of information that can be transferred in this way in an applicable sense would revolutionize communications. Youre talking about 1080p video, real-time audio, zero delay interaction with the robot you sent to Pluto.

The very first radio signal that SETI sent out in the 70s, that very first signal some 40 years ago, could be re-broadcasted to the farthest reaches of known space in less than one year, in all directions.

Think of the world you were born to, Im 30, I remember the advent of cable television and a world without the internet.

If this experiment truly is the first step in quantum computing, in that light will be the first medium upon which information is sent and stored (with others to follow), that will be single greatest revolution of my time on this planet.

The first applicable quantum component available to the consumer market will change your life forever, much in the same way the internet has only x1000.

Take every computer in the world, put all their horsepower together and add it up. You'll have something like that on your bluetooth earset, its like comparing your current desktop to an abacus...moreso actually.

Im not a computer scientist, Im not a physicist, Shit Im barely literate in either field. But if we live to see quantum computing become reality, applicable reality, not theory-world bullshit like wormholes, this world will never be the same and no one can predict what that world will be.

This is the Holy Grail of the Information Age. There was the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Age of Sail, Industrial Age and the Information Age will end almost overnight with a quantum computer. The Next Age will be something else entirely and I have as much chance of predicting what that is and will be as people in the bronze Age had of predicting life in the Information Age.

Heady stuff, indeed.

[phyzik]

Gentlemen, while cool to think about Star Trek transporters, this discovery only applies (for now) to a very unique form of energy; a photon.

Light/photons are one the greatest mysteries of the universe and, IMO, the secret to everything we call reality. Proving that photons can carry information in a dual-state is momentous, but fledgling.

The amount of information that can be transferred in this way in an applicable sense would revolutionize communications. Youre talking about 1080p video, real-time audio, zero delay interaction with the robot you sent to Pluto.

The very first radio signal that SETI sent out in the 70s, that very first signal some 40 years ago, could be re-broadcasted to the farthest reaches of known space in less than one year, in all directions.

Think of the world you were born to, Im 30, I remember the advent of cable television and a world without the internet.

If this experiment truly is the first step in quantum computing, in that light will be the first medium upon which information is sent and stored (with others to follow), that will be single greatest revolution of my time on this planet.

The first applicable quantum component available to the consumer market will change your life forever, much in the same way the internet has only x1000.

Take every computer in the world, put all their horsepower together and add it up. You'll have something like that on your bluetooth earset, its like comparing your current desktop to an abacus...moreso actually.

Im not a computer scientist, Im not a physicist, Shit Im barely literate in either field. But if we live to see quantum computing become reality, applicable reality, not theory-world bullshit like wormholes, this world will never be the same and no one can predict what that world will be.

This is the Holy Grail of the Information Age. There was the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Age of Sail, Industrial Age and the Information Age will end almost overnight with a quantum computer. The Next Age will be something else entirely and I have as much chance of predicting what that is and will be as people in the bronze Age had of predicting life in the Information Age.

Heady stuff, indeed.

Good post DR.

to give another idea of how powerfull a quantum computer could be, if one was used as a brute force password cracker.... everything that is on the internet, and is behind some type of security, would no longer be safe. a password that could take a conventional super-computer years to crack would be done in seconds.

[LnGrrrR]

In this experiment, researchers in Australia and Japan were able to transfer quantum information from one place to another without having to physically move it. It was destroyed in one place and instantly resurrected in another, “alive” again and unchanged. This is a major advance, as previous teleportation experiments were either very slow or caused some information to be lost.



Technically, there's no way to know for sure whether it was "instantly" resurrected, because information can not be transmitted FTL. That rule helps keep causality (somewhat) in place.

[LnGrrrR]

Good post DR.

to give another idea of how powerfull a quantum computer could be, if one was used as a brute force password cracker.... everything that is on the internet, and is behind some type of security, would no longer be safe. a password that could take a conventional super-computer years to crack would be done in seconds.

Hence the reason for the development of quantum cryptology...

[LnGrrrR]

Wouldn't the fact that you're destroyed to begin with to be reconstructed again someplace else mean said reconstruction isn't you, but rather just a likeness of you? I mean, even if it was possible to reconstruct memories, personality, etc, wouldn't your original self just disappear? A clone of you isn't you, no matter how many memories of yours it thinks are its own.

Ah, here we get to a fun question.

Why wouldn't it be you?

What makes "you", after all? Is it the physical makeup? After all, humans replace cells constantly, to the point where there's a whole new "you" after 8 years or so (IIRC).

Having your memories and personality WOULD make it 'you', in a very real sense. Especially if there was no original 'you' left.

[leemajors]

ah, here we get to a fun question.

Why wouldn't it be you?

What makes "you", after all? Is it the physical makeup? After all, humans replace cells constantly, to the point where there's a whole new "you" after 8 years or so (iirc).

Having your memories and personality would make it 'you', in a very real sense. Especially if there was no original 'you' left.

blasphemer!!!!!

[phyzik]

Hence the reason for the development of quantum cryptology...

Thats obviously true, I was just pointing out whats possible if a quantum computer where to be unleashed against the encryption used today.

[ElNono]

The problem of using quantum tech to crypto attack a large enough modulo though, is that the current limit of entangled qubits is about 12 (fairly recent, the previous limit was 7 IIRC). Shor's quantum factoring algorithm requires at least as many qubits as Q-1, something we're somewhat far from getting to.

[DMC]

Didn't this happen like 10 years ago or something? I remember reading about it. It was called black science or something like that. Basically splitting a pair and whatever was done to one happened to the other regardless of the distance.

[phyzik]

Didn't this happen like 10 years ago or something? I remember reading about it. It was called black science or something like that. Basically splitting a pair and whatever was done to one happened to the other regardless of the distance.

Thats different.... In this instance, they are both the same but in different states of reality. Hence the reference to Schrödinger's cat.... it was both dead and alive at the same time... so to speak.

[MannyIsGod]

very true. energy is not the same thing as mass.

Is light energy or matter?

[LnGrrrR]

Is light energy or matter?

Both, AFAIK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon

It's a masslass form of matter that is also a form of energy.

[Cry Havoc]

Technically, there's no way to know for sure whether it was "instantly" resurrected, because information can not be transmitted FTL. That rule helps keep causality (somewhat) in place.

Actually, if what I'm gleaning from this article is accurate, then you are incorrect in this statement.

Entities that experience quantum entanglement do not obey any current known laws of physics (although they fit somewhat within special relativity. You could take two subatomic particles that are entangled, put them on opposite ends of the universe from each other, and they both instantly react to a change even if only one of them has been directly affected. This means that if both particles are on opposite sides of the US, or one is here and the other is next to Rigel, they both react instantly when one of them is acted upon by a particular force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_nonlocality

[lefty]

Aw shit, yes !


It would be awesome to go to wherever you want in 1 second
Oh, I feel like going to Hawaii :D

[LnGrrrR]

Actually, if what I'm gleaning from this article is accurate, then you are incorrect in this statement.

Entities that experience quantum entanglement do not obey any current known laws of physics (although they fit somewhat within special relativity. You could take two subatomic particles that are entangled, put them on opposite ends of the universe from each other, and they both instantly react to a change even if only one of them has been directly affected. This means that if both particles are on opposite sides of the US, or one is here and the other is next to Rigel, they both react instantly when one of them is acted upon by a particular force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_nonlocality

Theoretically, yes.

There's no way to know that for sure though, because we can't communicate the measurements FTL.

(iow, if Alice sends a tangled qubit to Bob, and Alice causes the bit to decohere by measuring it, there's no way for Alice to get the info from Bob FTL.)

[LnGrrrR]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-communication_theorem

[z0sa]

Some awesome posts by DR, LnG, and basically everyone else in this thread. I didn't even ponder the effect quantum teleportation could have on the transfer of information - hello, duh!

What an awe inspiring concept. Just think of communicating with an alien species galaxies away within a year or two of an eventual successful transfer of coded information; one whose advanced enough to understand FTL (or at least as fast as light) travel and could quickly (within years, max) communicate how to construct such devices ourselves. This could very well be the way we explore the universe - not through USS Enterprise clones, but through an undoubtedly already established universally spanning internet!

There's probably hundreds of races of intelligent, "benevolent" beings just waiting for relatively primitive races such as us to contact them so they can share their knowledge with us, just like we would then be doing for any other races ourselves.

Wow.

[MannyIsGod]

Both, AFAIK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon

It's a masslass form of matter that is also a form of energy.

Exactly

[ElNono]

Theoretically, yes.

There's no way to know that for sure though, because we can't communicate the measurements FTL.

(iow, if Alice sends a tangled qubit to Bob, and Alice causes the bit to decohere by measuring it, there's no way for Alice to get the info from Bob FTL.)

But you don't have to communicate the measurements faster than light...

The Quantum Eraser experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_eraser_experiment) shows the "Spooky effect at a distance" quite clearly, and you don't need to communicate any measurements...

[LnGrrrR]

But you don't have to communicate the measurements faster than light...

The Quantum Eraser experiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_eraser_experiment) shows the "Spooky effect at a distance" quite clearly, and you don't need to communicate any measurements...

Well yes. (Speaking of which, I love that experiment. But if you want a REAL mindscrew, check the delayed choice quantum eraser...)

But I'm just saying, if you send qubit A to the moon and qubit B to Reno, Nevada, even if they both decohere in the same instant, there's no way for Alice and Bob to know for sure that they decohered instantaneously without some sort of confirmation, which must be passed along in some less-than-FTL manner. So for those specific instances where the decoherence occurs at distances (making the "Spooky Action" even spookier), there's no way to confirm instantaneously that it happened instantaneously.

[LnGrrrR]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_choice_quantum_eraser



By using a coincidence counter (http://spurstalk.com/wiki/Coincidence_counting_(physics)), the experimenters were able to isolate the entangled signal from the overwhelming photo-noise of the laboratory - recording only events where both signal and idler photons were detected.
When the experimenters looked only at the signal photons whose entangled idlers were detected at D1 or D2, they found an interference pattern.
However, when they looked at the signal photons whose entangled idlers were detected at D3 or similarly at D4, they found no interference.
This result is similar to that of the double slit experiment, since interference is observed when it is not known which slit the photon went through, while no interference is observed when the path is known.
However, what makes this experiment possibly astonishing is that, unlike in the classic double-slit experiment, the choice of whether to preserve or erase the which-path information of the idler need not be made until after the position of the signal photon has already been measured by D0.
There is never any which-path information determined directly for the photons that are detected at D0, yet detection of which-path information by D3 or D4 means that no interference pattern is observed in the corresponding subset of signal photons at D0.
The results from Kim, et al. have shown that whether the idler photon is detected at a detector that preserves its which-path information (D3 or D4) or a detector that erases its which-path information (D1 or D2) determines whether interference is seen at D0, even though the idler photon is not observed until after the signal photon arrives at D0 due to the shorter optical path for the latter.
Some have interpreted this result to mean that the delayed choice to observe or not observe the path of the idler photon will change the outcome of an event in the past. However, an interference pattern may only be observed after the idlers have been detected (i.e., at D1 or D2).

[LnGrrrR]

And here's a trippy idea based on the results of the Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser...

http://feny.idokep.hu/quantum/Delayed-Choice-Quantum-Eraser-Remote-Sensing-Hyperspace.pdf

[phyzik]

As an aside.... Dont want to derail my own thread.....

I think that if all the people from upstairs on this board came to this thread, their heads would explode while trying to wrap their heads around whats actually going on.

Thats not theoretical, BTW. Their brains would literally liquify and their eyeballs would explode. The only thing keeping them safe is their own ignorance.

I have no problem admiting that Im proud to have started this ultimate geek discussion.

admittedly, I dont understand half the stuff being talked about but I can somewhat grasp at it having at least a very basic understanding of quantum physics.... I can wrap my head around the idea, but dont ask me to give a good explanation. :lol

please, let us continue onto the next point of discussion which will be in my very next post.

[phyzik]

Please note, this article was just posted yesterday....

http://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=22272

Nano-scale Transistor for Quantum Computation Processors

Published on April 21, 2011 at 8:27 AM
By Cameron Chai

A team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh has developed a single-electron transistor called SketchSET, or sketch-based single-electron transistor to help build enhanced computer memories, electronic materials, and the quantum computer parts.

The research paper has appeared in Nature Nanotechnology and explains that the computer’s core component, an island measuring 1.5nm in diameter, can function with just one or two electrons. This feature would render the transistor applicable in ultradense memories and quantum processors. These devices could help address complicated issues.

http://www.azonano.com/images/news/NewsImage_22272.jpgPitt's SketchSET

The nano-scale island could also function as a synthetic atom to create new artificial electronic materials including superconductors, says team leader Jeremy Levy, a professor of physics and astronomy in the School of Arts and Sciences. Levy collaborated with lead author and physics and astronomy graduate student Guanglei Cheng, besides physics and astronomy researchers Feng Bi, Daniela Bogorin, and Cheng Cen. The Pitt team collaborated with a research team from the University of Wisconsin led by materials science and engineering professor Chang-Beom Eom, and research associates Chung Wun Bark, Jae-Wan Park, and Chad Folkman.

A sharp conducting probe of an atomic force microscope was used to create nano-sized wires and transistors at the interface of a crystal of strontium titanate and a 1.2nm thick lanthanum aluminate layer. The devices can later be erased, allowing the interface to be reused. The SketchSET comprises an island structure that could hold zero, one or two electrons. This numbers causes specific conductive traits. Wires protruding from the transistor deliver more electrons over the island.

The single-electron device is sensitive to an electric charge and exhibits ferroelectricity, due to which the transistor serves as a solid-state memory. The ferroelectric state can also monitor the number of electrons on the island when there is no external power source. A computer memory that was based on this characteristic could retain data when the processor was shut down. It could also prove susceptible to nano-scale pressure changes like a nanoscale charge or force sensor.

[LnGrrrR]

That's badass, except for the "retaining data" bit, which data thieves would love.

[LnGrrrR]

Honestly, we live in an amazing time. DNA splicing, nano-tech, quantum physics... It's awesome.

[TDMVPDPOY]

and how much for the transfer would cost?

imagine if it didnt destroy the original and just clone and transfer...OBAMA will put in 13triillion and clone that shit and send it over to china, NFD = zero

[LnGrrrR]

and how much for the transfer would cost?

imagine if it didnt destroy the original and just clone and transfer...OBAMA will put in 13triillion and clone that shit and send it over to china, NFD = zero

Cloning technology would completely screw up every economy in the world.

Additionally, money wouldn't just "appear". The new money would be formed from atoms, which will have had to come from someplace else. So not only would you have to develop cloning, but also find a way to transmute matter.