Image: the Joint Quantum Institute's Christopher Monroe sits near a 16-by-4-foot table covered in optical equipment. His team "teleported" an atom a distance of about 3 feet.
According to a story by Brent Baughman on NPR:
"It's not exactly the Star Trek version of teleportation, where an object disappears then reappears somewhere else. Rather, it "entangles" two different atoms so that one atom inherits the properties of another.
"According to the quantum theory, everything vibrates," theoretical physicist Michio Kaku tells NPR's Guy Raz. Kaku is a frequent guest on the Science and Discovery channels. "When two electrons are placed close together, they vibrate in unison. When you separate them, that's when all the fireworks start."
This is where quantum entanglement — sometimes described as "teleportation" — begins. "An invisible umbilical cord emerges connecting these two electrons. And you can separate them by as much as a galaxy if you want. Then, if you vibrate one of them, somehow on the other end of the galaxy the other electron knows that its partner is being jiggled."
This process happens even faster than the speed of light, physicists say.
Quantum entanglement isn't a new idea — Einstein once famously referred to it as "spooky action at a distance" — but it wasn't until the past 30 years that scientists were first able to observe this process.
It could one day lead to new types of computers, and some even think entanglement may explain things like telepathy. Scientists aren't quite ready to beam up Scotty yet, but this is the technology that one day may lead to such a feat.
via Scientists Take Quantum Steps Toward Teleportation : NPR.
Perhaps in a few years you'll be able to volunteer at the Joint Quantum Institute website to be the first human. There is a great episode titled "Daedalus" in the Star Trek Enterprise series which features the inventor of the transporter. A debate is retold at one point: is the transported person the same person, or a copy? Is an exact copy still you? Or is it someone else?
1 comment:
To teleport a whole boddy this is not the way to go. First of all science needs to understand the full aspect of light, with they dont at current time.
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