That's Impossible, Or Is It?

On September 12th 2013, scientists at the University of Queensland in Australia announced that they had achieved quantum teleportation inside an electronic chip. That's right, the process by which information can be transported from one location to another without a physical carrier, just like on Star Trek, is now a reality.

Dr. Arkady Fedorov and Dr. Matthias Baur used the process of quantum entanglement to achieve teleportation. Entanglement is the process by which two or more atomic particles become linked in such a way that the measurement of one particle's quantum state will determine that of the other particles' without any physical contact or when they are at extreme distances from one another.

In Dr. Fedorov and Dr. Buar's system, quantum information is stored as artificial structures called quantum bits. Dr. Fedorov says that the bits can bee seen with the naked eye. This is unusual because when we think of the quantum, we think of something so small that it can't even be seen with the aid of a microscope. What makes their system unique is that it uses a circuit, like that of a computer.

Quantum teleportation allows the transfer of information at a speed and accuracy far above that of data transfers in use to date. Dr. Fedorov says that the process will help in the design and creation of more powerful devices. He believes that questions concerning quantum communication can be answered using electronic circuits at microwave frequencies.

Dr. Fedorov and Dr. Baur foresee a future where experiments in which quantum information can and will be distributed over great distances, by way of microwave or optical interfaces. They expect teleportation to find applications in secure communications, and in more efficient information processing based on the laws of quantum physics.

No mentioned was made about the possibility of the teleportation of macroscopic objects or the eventuality of being able to one day transport a human being. But, this is an exciting breaking through and one that surely proves that while somethings are improbable, we live in a universe where nothing is impossible.