Scientists have successfully teleported something into space
for the first time ever.
The experiment saw Chinese scientists send a photon up away
from Earth, further than ever before.
Teleportation of this kind uses the bizarre effects of
quantum entanglement, rather than physically hurling the object itself over
distances. Instead it transfers the information about a photon to another point
in space – creating a faithful replication of the object.
It marks the first ever time that effect has been tested
over long distances. The success could bring with it a whole range of uses –
including a quantum internet that connects different parts of the world at
seemingly impossible speed.
But the new test saw scientists’ teleport up to a satellite.
That is likely to be the way that such teleportation will work in practice –
sending objects up to space and then back down again to wherever they are
needed, since it means there are relatively clear paths between all of the
different points.
Teleportation has become fairly common on the Earth, where
scientists can instantly shoot information about photons over small distances.
But the new study moves towards making that effect more practically useful.
"This work establishes the first ground-to-satellite
up-link for faithful and ultra-long-distance quantum teleportation, an
essential step toward global-scale quantum internet," the scientists write in their paper, which has been published online.
The satellite itself – named Micius after an ancient Chinese
philosopher – was sent up from the Gobi desert last year, by the team in charge
of the project. It dropped off the rocket that carried it to space and it has
been in orbit above the Earth ever since.
Micius itself can receive photons and is sensitive enough to
catch and spot them; the team on the ground had kit that could send those
photons up into space. Together, that kit could allow the scientists to test
how the team on Earth was able to interact with photons floating way above our
planet.
It works by harnessing the strange effects of quantum
entanglement, which Einstein described as "spooky action at a
distance". The effect describes the behavior where particles seem to act
on each other instantly and in bizarre ways.
That entanglement is not constrained by distances, meaning
that two particles can interact despite being a very long way apart. Scientists
hope to be able to use that effect for their own ends, including sending
messages that are received far more quickly than using traditional means, for
example.
Until now, experiments had been restricted to short
distances because of problems with the wires or signals that would carry the
information.
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