 Two independent teams of scientists have performed the first successful teleportation on atoms (as reported by the bbc and wired).
Far from the teleportation as depicted by science fiction shows such as Star Trek, this could be a part of the next step in supercomputing. Using this technology could allow computers to handle far bigger, more complex loads at a rate many times faster than currently possible.
The experiment so far has been to transfer the physical properties between atoms using a strange behaviour called "entanglement". This is where two particles share a relationship whereby the fate of one particle also affects the other. Einstein called this a "spooky action at a distance" prior to experiments showing it to be real.
The team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, transmitted characteristics between pairs of beryllium atoms, while the researchers at the Univeristy of Innsbruck in Austria used calcium ions. However despite some differences in the methods used, both experiments provided remarkably similar results.
For a more indepth explanation into what was achieved, it is worth reading the whole of the bbc article.
|
