New York physicists may have found a way to make information leap – essentially teleport – between a pair of separated electrons by making use of the laws behind quantum entanglement. This is different than what’s already being exploited in computing and encrypted communications technology – which is the teleportation of fundamental states between massless particles of light (photons).
So, scientists already know how to achieve quantum teleportation between massless particles (photons), but this new research shows it’s possible to do so between particles of matter (electrons) as well. The discovery could help connect the more traditional electronic kind of computing with quantum computing.
John Nichol, a physicist from the University of Rochester, said:
We provide evidence for ‘entanglement swapping,’ in which we create entanglement between two electrons even though the particles never interact, and ‘quantum gate teleportation,’ a potentially useful technique for quantum computing using teleportation. Our work shows that this can be done even without photons.
Science Alert explained entanglement as such:
Entanglement is physics jargon for what seems like a pretty straightforward concept. If you buy a pair of shoes from a shop and leave one behind, you’ll automatically know which foot it belongs to the moment you get home. The shoes are – in a manner of speaking – entangled.
If the shopkeeper randomly pulls out its matching partner when you return, you’ll think they either remembered your sale, made a lucky guess, or were perhaps a little ‘spooky’ in their prediction.
The real weirdness arises when we imagine your lonely shoe as being both left and right at the same time, at least until you look at it. At that very moment, the shoe’s partner back at the shop also snaps into shape, as if your sneaky peek teleported across that distance.
The problem is the Universe is like a big jumble of shoes, all threatening to turn your delicate game of ‘guess which foot’ into a nightmare gamble the moment any qubit interacts with its environment.
Einstein raised the possibility of such an exchange nearly a century ago, but we are only now beginning to understand teleportation between entangled particles. It’s how the Universe works on a fundamental level. To make things clear, this isn’t the type of teleportation you see in the movies where whole objects can be beamed across space. Instead, this is a mathematically formulated information jump that can be used to carry out unique kinds of calculations in computing. For example, to make the quantum internet a reality.
Quantum computing could be capable of so much more than standard technology. While typical computer logic is made up of a binary language of bits that can only occupy one space at a time, quantum computing is made up of qubits that can hold both states at once.
However, the challenge is transmitting electrons in their entangled state because they are continually moving. Photons are much more comfortable as they can be quickly separated down an optical fiber or through a vacuum at light speed over vast distances. But the team of engineers and physicists found a way. The team found a loophole and took advantage of a law that governs the way the fundamental particles making up atoms and molecules hold their position. While it is true that two electrons can’t share the same quantum spin state or occupy the same spot in space, the nearby electrons can swap their spins.
Nichol said:
Individual electrons are promising qubits because they interact very easily with each other, and individual electron qubits in semiconductors are also scalable. Reliably creating long-distance interactions between electrons is essential for quantum computing.
The research, while still only in the beginning phase, provides evidence that teleportation between electrons is possible, which is an encouraging sign for engineers overcoming the challenges of connecting quantum computing with existing computing technology.
