# Quantum Teleportation



## VirginiaHuguenot (Oct 5, 2006)

So is quantum teleportation a la _Timeline_ really possible?






Scientists teleport two different objects

October 4, 2006
CNN.com

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Beaming people in Star Trek fashion is still in the realms of science fiction but physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality.

Until now scientists have teleported similar objects such as light or single atoms over short distances from one spot to another in a split second.

But Professor Eugene Polzik and his team at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University in Denmark have made a breakthrough by using both light and matter.

"It is one step further because for the first time it involves teleportation between light and matter, two different objects. One is the carrier of information and the other one is the storage medium," Polzik explained in an interview on Wednesday.

The experiment involved for the first time a macroscopic atomic object containing thousands of billions of atoms. They also teleported the information a distance of half a meter but believe it can be extended further.

"Teleportation between two single atoms had been done two years ago by two teams but this was done at a distance of a fraction of a millimeter," Polzik, of the Danish National Research Foundation Center for Quantum Optics, explained.

"Our method allows teleportation to be taken over longer distances because it involves light as the carrier of entanglement," he added.

Quantum entanglement involves entwining two or more particles without physical contact.

Although teleportation is associated with the science-fiction series Star Trek, no one is likely to be beamed anywhere soon.

But the achievement of Polzik's team, in collaboration with the theorist Ignacio Cirac of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany, marks an advancement in the field of quantum information and computers, which could transmit and process information in a way that was impossible before.

"It is really about teleporting information from one site to another site. Quantum information is different from classical information in the sense that it cannot be measured. It has much higher information capacity and it cannot be eavesdropped on. The transmission of quantum information can be made unconditionally secure," said Polzik whose research is reported in the journal Nature.

Quantum computing requires manipulation of information contained in the quantum states, which include physical properties such as energy, motion and magnetic field, of the atoms.

"Creating entanglement is a very important step but there are two more steps at least to perform teleportation. We have succeeded in making all three steps -- that is entanglement, quantum measurement and quantum feedback," he added.

[Edited on 10-5-2006 by VirginiaHuguenot]


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## WrittenFromUtopia (Oct 5, 2006)

As much as I love Star Trek, I have to reject its naturalistic presuppositions and state that I don't believe "teleportation" is possible; at least, not for human beings. Reason being, our humanity is not limited to our physicality. Merely transporting or "cloning" our atoms from one location to another does not necessarily "move a person" from one place to another. Our physical bodies are shells for the soul. Heck, even Plato knew this. Who we are is more than the sum of our physical parts. Metaphysically, we would either be "left behind" in this transportation, or killed altogether. The only way I see this happening is if our metaphysical being, our soul, is not so directly tied to our physical body that it mattered not if we were one place or the other. Were this the case, then I could see how, ala Star Trek, one's body - physical body - could be transported from one location to another through the cloning of atoms, while our soul and metaphysical being would be preserved. I'm just not sure God would be down with that.


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## polemic_turtle (Oct 5, 2006)

I'm sure I'd just be dead if I tried this. I'd just be fried and that's it.

However, I'm interested in the possiblity of getting cheaper shipping for my books, once they get that down.  Of course, we'll probably have imbedded computers with which we can read text on the inside of our eyeball by that time. Ewww... I don't know if I could cooperate with that sort of experiment; I choke on swollowable pills, for Pete's sake! :-z


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