Recent l y, quantum te l epo r tat i on has
covered even more ground. In September
2014, a group of physicists from Switzerland
were able to teleport the quantum state of a
photon to a crystal port over 25 kilometres in
length of optic fibre. They created the scenario
of quantum entanglement by using a powerful
laser to thrust photons. Once entanglement
between two photons was achieved, one
photon was deposited at the crystal port and
one was propelled along the optic fibre. The
group pumped another photon toward the
propelled photon causing them to collide
with each other, destroying the two travelling
photons. Interestingly though, the information
from the third photon appeared in the crystal
[4].
Improvements in this novel technology
can potentially create power ful quantum
computers that operate at much faster rates
than that of our current computers. In addition,
i nformat i on t ransmi t ted wou ld be safer,
allowing added security to banking and online
businesses. Perhaps quantum teleportation
wasn’t what you quite had in mind and it is
safe to say that teleportation of anything in
the classical sense (including you) is by and
large, impossible! Supernatural powers of
teleportation will have to remain as fantasies,
for now, but the impl ications of quantum
teleportation are still incredibly exciting for
technological advancement.
Quantum telepor tat ion is possible
due to a phenomenon called quantum
entanglement. This is when two or more
par t icles interact in such a way that
they are connected, without physical
contact. I f the s tate of one par t icle
changes, the other particle is instantly
affected, and knowing the information
or state of one particle will tell us the
s tate of i t s compan ion par t icle [3] .
Whi le quantum entanglement occurs
naturally, scientists can also create forced
quantum entanglement, but it is difficult
to maintain. Teleportation relies on the
maintenance of entanglement and once
the entanglement is broken, teleportation
of quantum information is not possible.
The impracticalities of teleporting a living
object does not end there. In addition to
the impossibility of this estimated timeframe,
the teleported object must be digitised and
dematerialised prior to teleportation. If the
object is a human, any error that occurs during
dematerialisation and reconstruction of billions
and billions of cells in a destination hundreds
of thousands of mi les apar t would cause
irreparable damage. Another huge problem?
In essence, dematerialisation of a living object
means death.
Sc i en t i s t s have been ex p l o r i ng t he
possibility of teleportation since the late 20th
century but not with physical matter. Rather,
instantaneous teleportation of information is
achievable through quantum teleportation.
Quantum teleportation transfers a piece of
information instead of an atom or molecules.
In 1998, physicists at the California Institute of
Technology (Caltech), along with two research
groups from Europe, successfully teleported
information car r ied by a photon across a
coaxial cable, 1 metre in length. The original
photon no longer existed in the aftermath of
the creation of the replica [2].
