How Does Teleportation Work?
Teleportation, much like the other phenomena I have written about previously, appears to be reserved for the realm of H.G. Wells and Star Trek. However, this may not be the case for much longer.
I present to you, Quantum Teleportation.
Now don't get too excited. This technology only works on an incredibly small scale, and so far has only managed to teleport a single photon - nothing near the size of a human.
Nonetheless, it's an important and fascinating development, that could very well lead to large scale teleportation in the future.
Here is how it works.
Quantum teleportation relies heavily on something called quantum entanglement.
Quantum entanglement is where two particles, say A and B, are joined together, such that the behaviours of the two particles are inextricably linked. So, if you know the behaviour (or 'spin') of particle A, you therefore know with absolute certainty the spin of particle B. Einstein called this 'spooky action at a distance', which is indeed fitting, as the particles could even be light years away and would still behave in this odd manner.
To find out more, have a look at this video here.
Now, once we have two particles that are entangled, we can begin the teleportation.
Photons A and B are entangled such that their spin is identical, and then placed in rooms far off from one another.
We have a single photon C that we would like to teleport from room A to room B. We first measure the properties of the photon C against photon A, and record the comparison between them. Now, since photons A and B are of identical spin, we therefore have a comparison of C against B.
We send our measurements to room B, and adjust photon B such that it exactly matches our measurements of photon C.
And now we have an exact copy of our original photon in a completely separate room.
Now, another thing to keep in mind is a certain rule in physics known as the 'No Cloning Rule'. The basic idea is that we can never ever have two exact copies of an object existing at the exact same time. How does this form of teleportation not violate this?
When dealing with quantum mechanics, it is important to keep this one fact in mind:
Measuring a quantum particle changes its behaviour.
Therefore, once we measured and compared photons A and B, they then become permanently altered from their original state - and so our adjustment of photon C doesn't violate any fundamental rules.
Of course, you may be somewhat unsatisfied with this. Whatever was described above isn't really teleportation, or at least not in the traditional sense adopted by most science fiction writers.
And supposedly, through this method, we hadn't really moved photon C at all - we actually destroyed it and replaced it with a slightly adjusted photon B.
And so, if we were to ever introduce this type of teleportation into our everyday lives - would our teleported selves even be us? Should we, if given the chance, even accept such technology as worth this risk?
As you can see, quantum teleportation does raise fairly significant metaphysical implications (which have actually been explored at depth).
And that's all! I hope you have enjoyed this small introduction into the idea of quantum entanglement, cloning theorems and associated philosophy.
Apologies about having been gone for so long, exam season has just finished and so I hadn't been in a place to write articles on a regular basis - until now. Make sure to watch this space for upcoming articles on everything from cryptography to atmospheric physics!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owPC60Ue0BE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQHBAdShgYI
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_teleportation
http://www.physics.umd.edu/studinfo/courses/Phys402/AnlageSpring09/TheNoCloningTheoremWoottersPhysicsTodayFeb2009p76.pdf
https://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs191/fa05/lectures/lecture6_fa05.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qmSdC7aQpY
https://pixabay.com/en/science-fiction-teleportation-2127670/