Singing, take me apart, take me apart, What a way to roam. And if you have to take me apart to get me there, I’d rather stay at home – Douglas Adams, “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”.
Are we on the brink of having Star Trek-style teleporters, for real? Reports that scientists have successfully teleported a photon by internet might seem to suggest so.
Well, I hate to poop on your Trekker party, but the short answer is, no.
Researchers at Northwestern University have recently achieved a major milestone in the field of quantum physics. They have succeeded in teleporting a photon over a distance of 30.2 km through an internet network. This feat, once confined to the realm of science fiction novels, represents a significant advance in exploring the possibilities offered by quantum entanglement. With this accomplishment, the foundations of a future global quantum network seem to be rapidly approaching.
The first thing to bear in mind is that this is a single photon. Photons are the massless particles that carry the electromagnetic force, giving rise to electromagnetic radiation, including light. That’s a long, long way from instantly transporting some doomed shmo in a red skivvy across space.
The second, and more important thing, is that the experiment didn’t physically move a particle from one place to another.
The process is based on transferring the quantum state of a particle, which implies that its essential properties, such as its spin or polarization, are recreated at a distance. This phenomenon is made possible through quantum entanglement, a unique property of quantum particles. When entangled, these particles share a deep connection, allowing a modification of one to instantaneously affect the other, regardless of the distance between them. This revolutionary concept has been widely debated since Einstein described it as a “spooky action at a distance,” but it is now experimentally demonstrated.
Um, actually, our putative Trekker says at this point, scratching his neckbeard, that’s how a Star Trek transporter works. It destroys the original and recreates it elsewhere. (Which is, as it happens, my basis for refusing to use a transporter if they existed: it’s a suicide machine.)
The problem is that a living being is vastly different to a single particle. The leap from the Wright Brothers to Neil Armstrong is barely an inch by comparison.
Despite the progress made, quantum teleportation still faces a major obstacle: quantum decoherence. This phenomenon occurs when the quantum states of a particle lose their coherence due to external interferences, such as vibrations or temperature variations. In an environment as complex as an Internet network, maintaining entanglement over a long distance is a real technical challenge. Researchers have had to develop sophisticated strategies to minimize these disturbances and ensure that the quantum state of the photon can be transmitted without alteration. It is this mastery of quantum interactions that has allowed the unprecedented leap of 30.2 km.
As it happens, the immediate possibilities of such quantum isn’t in ‘transporters’ (or their associated imaginary technology, ‘replicators’), but in privacy.
One of the most fascinating implications of this breakthrough is the possibility of developing completely secure communications. Quantum entanglement, by making any interception attempt immediately detectable, could be the key to an internet where exchanges would not only be fast, but also inviolable.
In which case, watch Anthony ‘eSafety’ Albanese try and ban it.
