Beam Me Up--Almost!

[STSF NDak 0]

Scientists teleport two different objects

 

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.

 

Copyright 2006 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

 

Yay!

[Guest STSF_Amnor]

Just have to wonder how soon the scientists will notice the rest of the phrase... "There's no intelligent life down here"

[STSF Jami 0]

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

 

Well, that's no fun.

[Travis Kroells 0]

::would rather have his own Stargate::

[Captain Huff 0]

One step closer to having a "donut" key on my keyboard which materializes a donut when I press it. Yay!

[Arthur (Rackle) Dragoon 0]

::would rather have his own Stargate::

Aye.....me,too.I mean, a gate where you can reach other planets? Even Galaxys......is great in the comparision of just "teleporting objects"Dont'cha think?

[Pneuma 0]

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

 

Oh Come on! I wanna be able to say 'Beam me up Scotty" before I am too old to remember!

[STSF NDak 0]

Actually the way the Gates work in SG, they're essentially a long range transporter :unsure:

[will_marx 0]

Actually the way the Gates work in SG, they're essentially a long range transporter :unsure:

 

Odd. I thought they were point-to-point wormholes. At least, I think that was supposed to be the theory behind them.

[STSF NDak 0]

From Wiki:

 

When an object passes through the event horizon (the "puddle"), it is not immediately transferred to the destination Stargate, but rather the portion that has passed through is dematerialised and held in a "hyperspatial buffer". An object that hasn't completely passed through the event horizon may be pulled out again, and its atoms will rematerialise from the buffer as it is extracted. The gate does not begin transmitting an object until it has entirely passed through the event horizon. This ensures that only complete objects are transferred. Objects in the buffer remain in a state of suspension. This has been used to "store" people in medical need, but is a dangerous manouver as when a Stargate is shut down everything still in the buffer "ceases to exist". The unstable vortex ("kawoosh") wipes the buffer clean to receive new information every time the gate activates.

 

Several facets of the Stargate are necessary for it to function as a useful personnel transporter. Matter emerging from a Stargate retains any kinetic energy it had while entering, so a person running into one Stargate will hit the ground running upon emerging from another. (Weapon projectiles also maintain their trajectory upon transit- a bullet fired through a Stargate is just as dangerous as it would be otherwise) Also, the transmitting Stargate does not allow the air molecules of the local atmosphere to pass through; doing so could be disastrous should a receiving gate be located in a vacuum. The show explains that the Stargate differentiates between objects attempting to pass through the event horizon and things that would naturally exert pressure, such as water, air, lava, etc.

 

Which to me, parses as a transporter, not a wormhole in the sense of the Bajoran Wormhole.

[Kansas_Jones 0]

I'm sorry, but I keep having a McCoy moment as in "I am not getting in that damned thing to spread my molecules all over creation". Transport tech is VERY cool though.

[will_marx 0]

I'm sorry, but I keep having a McCoy moment as in "I am not getting in that damned thing to spread my molecules all over creation". Transport tech is VERY cool though.

 

We all have them, Kansas.