Researchers, for the very first time, managed to teleport 10,000 bits of data per second across two points that is almost six millimeters apart and inside a solid state circuit, similar to a computer chip. This new technique is dubbed as "quantum teleportation" which may be used in the development of quantum computers.
In the experiment conducted by scientists from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, three micron-sized electronic circuits were separated on a seven-by-seven millimeter computer chip. Two out of three circuits served as a "sender" and the other worked as the "receiver." Before running a current through the circuits, the scientists cooled the chip to almost complete zero degree.
With such low temperature, the electrons or the quantum bits of data in the circuit started to act according to the quantum mechanics rules. The quantum bits of information or qubits became entwined, meaning they became linked and shared identical quantum states, even if they are physically apart.
The qubits in the sender circuit became entwined with the receiving circuit, in particular. Information was programmed into the sending circuits and then measured the state of qubits in the receiver circuit by the ETH team. No matter what state the qubits had been in the sender circuit was mirrored quickly in the receiving circuit. The researchers were successful in teleporting the data.
This is a lot unlike from the mechanics of sending information through ordinary computers wherein electrons carry information through wires or air via radio waves. In this matter, no bit of information physically transferred along a route – instead, the data vanished from one location and recurred at another.
Other scientists have managed to teleport quantum bits, too, and did it across a greater distance. But those groups of scientists got the teleportation work occasionally. The ETH team was able to teleport up to 10,000 qubits per second and makes it work continuously.
Their findings can be read in the online journal Nature.
