Whenever and wherever you see a novel or a film containing teleportation; it is safe to say that it is fiction. Never would you think that someone teleporting to another city is real. I must say though, Science has come a long way in such a short space of time; so will teleportation ever become reality? – is a good question to ask.

Teleportation

The idea of teleportation is to change a physical object into a signal and transmit this signal to somewhere else where it is then reassembled. This has already been done…kind of. By altering this definition by a small amount we have been able to teleport, yes.

Teleportation in REAL LIFE

In fact, this altered definition of teleportation has recently allowed for scientists in China to teleport a photon from Earth into Space. Although a photon is not a physical object, it’s a start, and could revolutionise all sorts of things which I will discuss later on. First, we must dive back into the realm of Quantum Physics to understand how this teleportation actually worked.

The Alien World of Quantum Physics

It doesn’t sound nice, I know, but I will make this as understandable as I can for anyone that is reading. The problem with Quantum Physics, is that it defies logic. They say that if you believe that you understand Quantum Physics, then you don’t understand it at all. The more you learn about it; the more it confuses you. Quantum Entanglement is certainly not an exception.

Quantum Entanglement

Having said how crazy quantum can get; quantum entanglement is when you have two particles that are physically separated from each other - yet they still have some sort of connection between them. This connection allows them to influence each other instantaneously - on any scale you want. Imagine you are here on Earth; and on the other side of the Universe you have a person who is ‘entangled’ to you - If you clap, the person on the other side of the Universe also claps… instantaneously.

Sounds completely alien right? Surprisingly, it has been proven with quantum particles over and over again. This is incredibly shocking as on a large scale of distance, this passage of information would break the fastest possible speed in the Universe – the speed of light, which defies the laws of Physics. So how does this relate to how the scientists teleported a photon 300 miles, from Earth into Space?

Quantum Entanglement and Teleportation relation

This teleportation that the Scientists did was not quite the disappearing of something that reappears elsewhere, magically - but the production of an exact copy of that something with its information, by the means of quantum entanglement. Let me explain.

Imagine looking into a mirror. If you wave your hand at it, your reflection waves back. In quantum entanglement terms; you are entangled with your reflection (‘entangled’ means you are connected in a “spooky” way no one knows of yet) – so by altering your information (by waving), due to this entanglement, your reflection alters theirs instantly – producing an exact copy of your wave, so your reflection waves back at you. As a result, your waving hand is teleported to your reflection. Still don’t get it? This very short video will definitely help you out.

This is how the photon was teleported into Space by the scientists. Mind bending, right? That’s the Quantum world for you.

Will teleportation on a large physical scale ever occur?

With the technology we have now, probably not. By using quantum entanglement - teleportation has been done with atoms, but not with anything bigger. It becomes too complex as you can imagine but by no means am I saying it is impossible – it could be done.

What can this quantum teleportation help us with then?

If we can’t teleport a McDonalds directly to our beds, what’s the point of this so called ‘achievement’ – why is it a breakthrough? Turns out, this form of teleportation has a huge impact – especially in the world of computers. If data was teleported from computer to computer using quantum entanglement, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to hack that signal since it is nowhere in between the two computers, at all.

This is a significant step into developing a quantum internet, which is an internet that is impossible to hack, an internet which transmits data instantly across the world. An internet where downloading and uploading speeds do not become a problem anymore. No more kicking your internet router – bid farewell to lag.

The innovation that is to happen in the future is very uncertain, and we are at the brink of doing amazing things we never thought of doing. Here’s to the future.

If you have any questions, leave them below and until next time, take care.

~ Mystifact

Relevant articles:
Wonders of Quantum Physics: "What are Quantum Computers?" - Episode 3 (FOR BEGINNERS!)
Wonders of Quantum Physics: "What is Matter?" - Episode 2
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