Teleportation experiment across the Danube

Particles moved more than ½ km across the old european river

Rupert Ursin and colleagues at the Institute for Experimental Physics in Vienna fired a laser through a barium borate crystal to generate two pairs of photons. One pair is entangled (if something disturbs the state of one, the other is affected too - even when not physically connected).

By separating the entangled pair, the scientists successfully transported information about the state of one photon to the other. Three distinct states were teleported across the Danube using fiber-optic cable under the water, plus microwaves above the water. Distance was more than 600 meter, the experiment ran 28 hours, and the system was correct 97 % of the time.

Their results indicate:
Quantum teleportation is possible over longer distances.
Real-world conditions doesn't prevent the process.

The scientists: “Our result is a step towards the implementation of a quantum repeater, which will enable pure entanglement to be shared between distant parties in a public environment and eventually on worldwide scale.”

Background

In 1992 the american scientist Charles H. Bennett
proves that teleportation in theory is possible.

1998 a few photons are relocated a few centimeters
in an experiment on Caltech (California Institute of Technology)
supervised by Professor Eugene Polzik, who has since moved to Denmark.

Perspective

Moving a few particles less than a mile sounds perhaps not so revolutionizing. But compare it to the state of radio-technology a century ago. Or the speed of development from 3 inch b/w television in 1937 to present days tv-world. Do anyone recall when mobile phones were exotic beasts..?

Prediction

Teleportation should become a practical reality in this century, if investigation continues. This will challenge almost every aspect of our transportsystems, the way we work and live, our sense of geography. And more...

More..?

Here is a couple of possibilities related to teleportation:

Mass-dublication

Teleportation (as we know it) means that the original is destroyed and the perfect copy established elsewhere. The process happening at light speed. But if the original somehow could be saved, then we would have a mass-dublicator. From then on only originals would matter, probably fusing art and science considerably. A massdublicator combined with teleportation would also create a 'new situation'.

Virtual vindow

Look into the window and out: see how it goes on in Paris? Or Antarctica? Or Copenhagen? The people you look at can also see you, a conversation would be possible. People could be quite social yet seldom leaving their home. Our sense of locality and geography would also be challenged by a widespread use of virtual views...

The idea of twoway television is not exactly new, but the practical aspect could arrive earlier than expected. The combination of a highspeed connection with a high resolution windowcam and an ultrathin large screen (fx 1 x 3 m) could function as twoway vision in realtime. The screen could have the size of a window - or a whole wall (eventually, all walls, floor and ceiling).

Two such systems connected would create a virtuel window between two widely seperated rooms. With sufficiently computerpower it should be possible to create an almost perfect illusion. For several social occations this could be sufficient, and thus it would be just as good as teleportation.

And geography will never be the same again...


Mads Dam, august 2004