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Quantum Teleportation

QuantumTeleportation
Research

QuantumTeleportation
Teleportationisthenamegivenbysciencefictionwriterstothefeatofmakinganobjectorpersondisintegrateinoneplacewhileaperfectreplica appearssomewhereelse.Howthisisaccomplishedisusuallynotexplainedindetail,butthegeneralideaseemstobethattheoriginalobjectis scannedinsuchawayastoextractalltheinformationfromit,thenthisinformationistransmittedtothereceivinglocationandusedtoconstructthe replica,notnecessarilyfromtheactualmaterialoftheoriginal,butperhapsfromatomsofthesamekinds,arrangedinexactlythesamepatternasthe original.Ateleportationmachinewouldbelikeafaxmachine,exceptthatitwouldworkon3dimensionalobjectsaswellasdocuments,itwould produceanexactcopyratherthananapproximatefacsimile,anditwoulddestroytheoriginalintheprocessofscanningit.Afewsciencefictionwriters considerteleportersthatpreservetheoriginal,andtheplotgetscomplicatedwhentheoriginalandteleportedversionsofthesamepersonmeetbutthe morecommonkindofteleporterdestroystheoriginal,functioningasasupertransportationdevice,notasaperfectreplicatorofsoulsandbodies.

In1993aninternationalgroupofsixscientists,includingIBMFellowCharlesH.Bennett,confirmedtheintuitionsofthemajorityofsciencefictionwriters byshowingthatperfectteleportationisindeedpossibleinprinciple,butonlyiftheoriginalisdestroyed.Insubsequentyears,otherscientistshave demonstratedteleportationexperimentallyinavarietyofsystems,includingsinglephotons,coherentlightfields,nuclearspins,andtrappedions. Teleportationpromisestobequiteusefulasaninformationprocessingprimitive,facilitatinglongrangequantumcommunication(perhapsunltimately leadingtoa"quantuminternet"),andmakingitmucheasiertobuildaworkingquantumcomputer.Butsciencefictionfanswillbedisappointedto learnthatnooneexpectstobeabletoteleportpeopleorothermacroscopicobjectsintheforeseeablefuture,foravarietyofengineeringreasons,even thoughitwouldnotviolateanyfundamentallawtodoso. Inthepast,theideaofteleportationwasnottakenveryseriouslybyscientists,becauseitwasthoughttoviolatetheuncertaintyprincipleofquantum mechanics,whichforbidsanymeasuringorscanningprocessfromextractingalltheinformationinanatomorotherobject.Accordingtotheuncertainty principle,themoreaccuratelyanobjectisscanned,themoreitisdisturbedbythescanningprocess,untilonereachesapointwheretheobject's originalstatehasbeencompletelydisrupted,stillwithouthavingextractedenoughinformationtomakeaperfectreplica.Thissoundslikeasolid argumentagainstteleportation:ifonecannotextractenoughinformationfromanobjecttomakeaperfectcopy,itwouldseemthataperfectcopy cannotbemade.Butthesixscientistsfoundawaytomakeanendrunaroundthislogic,usingacelebratedandparadoxicalfeatureofquantum mechanicsknownastheEinsteinPodolskyRoseneffect.Inbrief,theyfoundawaytoscanoutpartoftheinformationfromanobjectA,whichone wishestoteleport,whilecausingtheremaining,unscanned,partoftheinformationtopass,viatheEinsteinPodolskyRoseneffect,intoanotherobject CwhichhasneverbeenincontactwithA.

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Quantum Teleportation

Later,byapplyingtoCatreatmentdependingonthescannedout information,itispossibletomaneuverCintoexactlythesamestateasA wasinbeforeitwasscanned.Aitselfisnolongerinthatstate,havingbeen thoroughlydisruptedbythescanning,sowhathasbeenachievedis teleportation,notreplication. Asthefiguresuggests,theunscannedpartoftheinformationisconveyed fromAtoCbyanintermediaryobjectB,whichinteractsfirstwithCandthen withA.What?Canitreallybecorrecttosay"firstwithCandthenwithA"? Surely,inordertoconveysomethingfromAtoC,thedeliveryvehiclemust visitAbeforeC,nottheotherwayaround.Butthereisasubtle,unscannable kindofinformationthat,unlikeanymaterialcargo,andevenunlikeordinary information,canindeedbedeliveredinsuchabackwardfashion.Thissubtle kindofinformation,alsocalled"EinsteinPodolskyRosen(EPR)correlation" or"entanglement",hasbeenatleastpartlyunderstoodsincethe1930swhen itwasdiscussedinafamouspaperbyAlbertEinstein,BorisPodolsky,and NathanRosen.Inthe1960sJohnBellshowedthatapairofentangled particles,whichwereonceincontactbutlatermovetoofaraparttointeract directly,canexhibitindividuallyrandombehaviorthatistoostronglycorrelated tobeexplainedbyclassicalstatistics.Experimentsonphotonsandother particleshaverepeatedlyconfirmedthesecorrelations,therebyproviding strongevidenceforthevalidityofquantummechanics,whichneatlyexplainsthem.AnotherwellknownfactaboutEPRcorrelationsisthattheycannot bythemselvesdeliverameaningfulandcontrollablemessage.Itwasthoughtthattheironlyusefulnesswasinprovingthevalidityofquantum mechanics.Butnowitisknownthat,throughthephenomenonofquantumteleportation,theycandeliverexactlythatpartoftheinformationinanobject whichistoodelicatetobescannedoutanddeliveredbyconventionalmethods.

Thisfigurecomparesconventionalfacsimiletransmissionwithquantum teleportation(seeabove).Inconventionalfacsimiletransmissiontheoriginal isscanned,extractingpartialinformationaboutit,butremainsmoreorless intactafterthescanningprocess.Thescannedinformationissenttothe receivingstation,whereitisimprintedonsomerawmaterial(egpaper)to produceanapproximatecopyoftheoriginal.Bycontrast,inquantum teleportation,twoobjectsBandCarefirstbroughtintocontactandthen separated.ObjectBistakentothesendingstation,whileobjectCistakento thereceivingstation.AtthesendingstationobjectBisscannedtogetherwith theoriginalobjectAwhichonewishestoteleport,yieldingsomeinformation andtotallydisruptingthestateofAandB.Thescannedinformationissentto thereceivingstation,whereitisusedtoselectoneofseveraltreatmentsto beappliedtoobjectC,therebyputtingCintoanexactreplicaoftheformer stateofA. Tolearnmoreaboutquantumteleportation,seethefollowingarticlesand links: C.H.Bennett,G.Brassard,C.Crepeau,R.Jozsa,A.Peres,andW.Wootters,"TeleportinganUnknownQuantumStateviaDualClassicalandEPR Channels",Phys.Rev.Lett.vol.70,pp18951899(1993) (theoriginal6authorresearcharticle). TonySudbury,"InstantTeleportation",Nature.362,586587(1993)(asemipopularaccount). IvarsPeterson,ScienceNews,April10,1993,p.229.(anothersemipopularaccount). SamuelBraunstein,Afuntalkonteleportation Q&AonTeleportationbyBBCNewsOnlinescienceeditorDavidWhitehouse Wikipediaarticle ExperimentalArticles D.Bouwmeesteretal.Nature390,5759(1997)(photons) D.Boschietal.Phys.Rev.Lett.80,11211125(1998)(photons) A.Furusawaetal.Science282,706709(1998)(coherentlightfield) M.A.Nielsenetal.Nature396,5255(1998)(nuclearmagneticresonance)

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I.Marcikicetal.Nature421,509513(2003)(photons,longdistance) M.Riebeetal.Nature429,734737(2004)(trappedcalciumions) M.D.Barretetal.Nature429,737739(2004)(trappedberylliumions) R.Ursinetal.Nature430,849(2004)(photons,longdistance) TheoreticalArticles G.BrassardPhysicaD1204347(1998)Teleportationasaquantumcomputation GottesmanandIChuangNature402390393(1999),teleportationasacomputationalprimitive X.Zhou,D.Leung,I.ChuangQuantumgateconstructionsfromteleportationlikeprimiitve L.Vaidmanquantph/0111124Usingteleportationtomeasurenonlocalvariables Forrecentexperimentalandtheoreticalarticles,doatitlesearchon"teleportation"intheArXivEprintArchive

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