Open-Air Quantum Teleportation Achieved

For years, fiber optic cables have been used to transmit data over long distances because they are reliable and fast. The main problem with fiber optics is that they lose photons because of internal absorption and other effects. This is a problem if the signal being sent is relatively small. Direct transmission through air involves less photon loss but is more difficult to align a receiver with the transmitter so the photons will arrive at their destination.

 

A Chinese group recently has made strides to solving this problem. They use a highly accurate point-tracking system. With this method they archived Quantum Teleportation. They were able to "teleport" a signal over a 90km+ lake at night. They currently cannot do this practice at day because of the interference from the sun. Even the reflection of light from the moon produced small strange readings while testing.

 

How this basically works is that a signal is sent and, by using multiple entangled particles in the air, the signal same signal is reproduced at the transmitting end with absolutely no contact with the originally transmitted signal. While this is no Star Trek style transport, its a start. It is not only a proof of concept that data could be teleported over long distances, it also is a start to making the already fast fiber optic system of moving data even faster and more efficient.

 

To read more about this achievement click here.