Quantum teleportation of subatomic-particles reaches 15.5 miles across optical fiber

A latest distance record has been set in the strange world of quantum teleportation. In a new experiment, the quantum state (the direction it was spinning) of a light particle right away traveled 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) across an optical fiber, flattering the farthest successful quantum teleportation feat yet. Go forward in quantum teleportation could lead to improved Internet and communication security, and get scientists earlier to developing quantum computers. About 5 years ago, researchers could only teleport quantum information, such as which way a particle is spinning, across a few meters. Now, they can beam that information across several miles. Quantum teleportation doesn’t mean it’s possible for a anyone to instantly pop from New York to London, or be instantly beamed aboard a spacecraft like in television’s “Star Trek.” Physicists can’t right away transport matter, but they can right away transport information through quantum teleportation. This works thanks to a bizarre quantum mechanics property called-entanglement.

 Quantum entanglement happens when two subatomic particles stay linked no matter how far apart they are. When one particle is disturbed, it instantly affects the tangled partner. It’s impossible to tell the state of either particle until one is straight measured, but measuring one particle right away determines the state of its partner. In the latest, record-breaking experiment, researchers from the University of Geneva, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory & the National Institute of Standards and Technology used a super quick laser to pump out photons. Every once in a while, two photons would become entangled. Once the researchers had an entangled pair, they sent one down the optical fiber and store the other in a crystal at the end of the cable. Then, the researchers shot a third particle of light at the photon traveling down the cable. When the two collided, they obliterated each other. Though both photons vanished, the quantum information from the collision appear in the crystal that held the second entangled-photon.
Quantum information has by now been transferred dozens of miles, but this is the furthest it’s been transported using an optical fiber, and then recorded & stored at the other end. Other quantum teleportation experiment that beamed photons farther used lasers instead of optical fibers to send the information. But unlike the laser method, the optical-fiber method could eventually be used to develop technology like quantum computers that are capable of very fast computing, or quantum cryptography that could create secure communication possible.