Scientists from TU Delft's Kavli Institute of Nanoscience announced that they successfully teleported information to different quantum bits 3 meters away with 100 percent accuracy. The innovation could be useful in the development of quantum computers.
Quantum computers were designed using the principle of quantum physics to create a device with a speed beyond the power of traditional computers. Scientists believed that quantum computers would be useful in resolving important problems that current computers couldn't handle. The device could also make information transfer faster making hacking impossible.
Prof. Ronald Hanson, lead researcher of the study, and his colleagues used the concept of "entanglement" for the study.
"When two particles become entangled, their identities merge: their collective state is precisely determined but the individual identity of each of the particles has disappeared. The entangled particles behave as one, even when separated by a large distance. The distance in our tests was three meters, but in theory the particles could be on either side of the universe. Einstein didn't believe in this prediction and called it 'spooky action at a distance'. Numerous experiments, on the other hand, agree with the existence of entanglement," Hanson said in a press release.
Previous studies attempted to teleport information in different computer chips, but Hanson's team was the first to succeed with 100 percent accuracy. The team used electrons in diamonds to produce the qubits used in the study so they can view the electrons individually and track the spin of the data.
"We're able to set the spin (rotational direction) of these particles in a predetermined state, verify this spin and subsequently read out the data. We do all this in a material that can be used to make chips out of. This is important as many believe that only chip-based systems can be scaled up to a practical technology," Hanson explained.
Hanson added that his team plans to repeat the experiment at a distance of 1,300 meters with the chips scattered around the campus.
Further details of the study were published in the May 29 issue of Science.
