A team of
Chinese scientists has successfully teleported a particle to a satellite in
space.
As Time reports,
the scientists sent a photon nearly 300 miles to a satellite orbiting Earth,
which is the farthest recorded distance for quantum teleportation trials thus
far. The Tibetan team had been teleporting scores of photons up from their
laboratory for roughly a month, of which 900 trials were successful.
Although
quantum teleportation may sound like something out of a science-fiction film,
the science behind the process is far from fiction. In fact, the entire process is based
around the idea that quantum information— i.e. the state of an atom, photon or
other particle— can be transmitted from one location to another by means of
entangled communications between the sending and receiving locations.
Though the
first successful quantum teleportation experiment occurred only a year ago,
this latest success prompts many in the field of quantum physics and
teleportation to believe that this could open the door for more advancements
and achievements to be made— including some that could make a
globally-accessible quantum-transmitted Internet service possible.
Natalie Wickstrom is a
freelance writer based in Athens, Georgia. She most likely wrote this piece to
the tune of a movie score whilst chewing gum.
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