By Katie Davis W ell I guess the days we spent watching Captain Kirk have changed from fiction to fact, well kind of, in what is being called a revolu- tionary breakthrough in demonstrating the feasibility of quantum teleportation. Two teams of scientists, one from Canada and the other from China, have successfully transferred quantum information over several miles of commercial optical fiber networks according to experiment studies pub- lished in the journal Nature Photonics. This breakthrough follows a theory quantum teleportation first proposed nearly two decades ago by scientists which uses entangled particle. Entangle- ment is a term used in quantum theory to describe the way that particles of energy/matter can become correlated to predictably interact with each other regardless of how far apart they are. Particles, such as photons, electrons, or qubits that have interacted with each other retain a type of connection and can be entangled with each other in pairs, in the process known as correlation. Knowing the spin state of one entangled particle - whether the direction of the spin is up or down - allows one to know that the spin of its mate is in the opposite direction. Even more amazing is the knowledge that, due to the phenomenon of superposition, the measured particle has no single spin direction before being measured, but is simultaneously in both a spin-up and spin-down state. The spin state of the particle being measured is decided at the time of measurement and communicated to the correlated particle, which simultaneously assumes the opposite spin direction to that of the measured particle. Quantum entangle- ment allows qubits that are separated by incredible distances to interact with each other immediately, in a communication that is not limited to the speed of light. No matter how great the distance between the correlated particles, they will remain entangled as long as they are isolated. Particles, such as photons, electrons, or qubits that have interacted with each other retain a type of connection So by using this property, the researcher team in Canada was able to send quantum information over 6.2 kilometers of fiber optic network. To our do the Canada team, the Chinese team, using a slightly different configuration for their experiment was send the information twice the distance at 12.5 kilo- meters. The distance is not the true breakthrough, but that researchers for the first time were able to use existing telecommunications infrastructure to accomplish the quantum teleportation, which is a key step in ensuring the viability and practicality of the process. For those of you who great up watching Star Trek this is how quantum telepor- tation works as unlike the science fictional transporters quantum teleportation refers to the instantaneous transmission of information, rather than actual matter. So, while the latest breakthrough is not going to lead the creation of transporters that seem straight out of science fiction, it does have several real-world implica- tions such as the development of super fast quantum computers to quantum cryptography and the creation of extremely secure “quantum internet,” feasible and reliable teleportation has the capability to revolutionize communications as we know it today as it would enable users to transfer information through quantum states instead of the currently used strings of 0s and 1s, so hackers could not read the quantum state of a photon without disturbing it.
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OCTOBER 2016 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS
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