We have already mastered teleportation
Teleportation of particles into space has already been accomplished and teleportation of humans is theoretically possible.
For many years scientists have been able to ‘teleport’ photons (particles of light.
The atom itself is not teleported but the states of single atoms have been teleported, thus creating to all extents and purposes, the same atom in another place.
In 2017 Chinese scientists were the first to teleport an object into space.
In 2016, Chinese scientists sent a Long March 2D rocket from Jiuquan in the Gobi Desert. The rocket placed a satellite in orbit.
The satellite, named Micius after an ancient Chinese philosopher and scientist, is able to detect photons sent from the ground. It enabled scientists on the ground to experiment with quantum entanglement, cryptography, and teleportation.
In 2017, they made the world’s first satellite-to-ground quantum network. It broke the world record for the longest distance of entanglement measured between two particles. They used the quantum entanglement to ‘teleport’ a photon from earth into space.
Since the 1990s scientists have been able to teleport single photons. Particles are teleported using quantum entanglement. Quantum entanglement is when two quantum objects, such as photons, form at the same instant and point in space and so share the same existence. They are said to have the same wave function.
The two particles have a shared existence. When a change happens to one of the particles it immediately affects the other one, no matter how big the distance between them.
In the 1990s scientists realised that they could use this link to ‘teleport’ information from one point in the universe to another. To all extents and purposes the second particle becomes the first photon.
Theoretically scientists can transfer information instaneaously over vast distances. But practically, there are problems with interference. This is why the Chinese built their lab as high as possible in Ngari in Tibet, at an altitude of 4000 metres. This limited the amount of interference before the particles reached the vacuum of space and the satellite 500km above.
During the course of 32 days the scientists sent millions of photons and reported 911 successful results.
We report the first quantum teleportation of independent single-photon qubits from a ground observatory to a low Earth orbit satellite—through an up-link channel— with a distance up to 1400 km
Micius Team
It was is the first time that any object has been teleported from Earth to space, and it blew away the previous world record for the longest distance of entanglement.
Quantum internet
Professor Dr Ir Ronald Hanson of The Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, at the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands is working on a quantum internet. His team have successfully achieved quantum entanglement between two electrons one kilometre apart.
Quantum teleportation combines two very weird properties of quantum physics; entanglement and measurement. If two particles are entangled they share a very special relationship. The state of each particle is unknown but the state of the two particles together can be calculated exactly.
The special relationship known as entanglement can be over many light years, one particle can be at the other side of the universe.
In principle it is possible to teleport a human being. We are all made of the same elementary particles that we are using now in the lab for teleportation. However we consist of so many particles that practically it would be impossible.
Professor Dr Ir Ronald Hanson
He goes on to explain how Quantum Teleportation can improve communication between micro processors in a quantum computer.
“We are working towards teleportation over hundreds or thousands of kilometres.”
Professor Dr Ir Ronald Hanson
Sources:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2017/07/10/150547/first-object-teleported-from-earth-to-orbit/
http://fastfacts.nl/en/content/ronald-hanson-quantumteleportation
