Quantum teleportation breakthrough: Next-generation internet now a step closer
QUANTUM TELEPORTATION has made a leap forward in complexity, after scientists successfully teleported three dimensional information for the first time
Quantum Computers: What are their capabilities?
A major quantum teleportation breakthrough was achieved after scientists successfully transferred the most complex data set yet. Quantum teleportation is the mysterious phenomena which sees information flung across space. The effect is distinct from the everyday understanding of teleportation, where matter is moved through space.
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Quantum teleportation is instead the transfer of information about the quantum state of a particle.
The higher the dimensions of your quantum system, the more secure you can ensure your communication is
The news has unimaginable ramifications for how information can be organised and transmitted, and potentially paves the way for a world-wide quantum internet totally immune from hackers.
Scientists have until now only been capable of teleporting quantum bits, known as qubits.
These are the most basic piece of quantum information, where a particle can simultaneously be in two states at once.
But scientists have now successfully teleported a qutrit, adding a whole extra dimension.
While a qubit is polarised in two ways at once, a qutrit is polarised in three dimensions.
A qubit could be zero or one, while a qutrit can be zero, one or two.
Transmitting this significantly more complicated unit presented a far greater challenge for the research team.
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The scientists can consequently teleport far more complex information.
Teleporting qutrits instead of qubits means a huge leap forward in complexity, due to the nature of the process.
The extra transferred information has the potential to power the muted quantum internet, offering instantaneous and secure communication.
Ciarán Lee, from University College London, told New Scientist: “The higher the dimensions of your quantum system, the more secure you can ensure your communication is and the more information you can encode.
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“But going from a qubit to a qutrit is especially difficult — the tricks you use for qubits have to do with a nice symmetry that qutrits don’t have.”
The researchers report that the demonstrations of their technique had a 75 percent accuracy.
Although this appears low, this is likely to improve over time and is an improvement on similar techniques that do not use quantum entanglement.
