Scientists have had an incredible breakthrough in teleportation.
We're one step closer to being beamed aboard the Starship Enterprise, with an Oxford supercomputer apparently harnessing the ability to teleport.
While the idea of teleporting is something usually reserved for science fiction movies like Watchmen, the term was first coined as early as 1878. The concept that we can teleport from one place to another would definitely save time and money on the morning commute, but while movies have suggested it would be easy to pull off, real-life science has us thinking otherwise.
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Researchers at the University of Oxford have built a scalable quantum supercomputer that's reportedly capable of quantum teleportation.
Although quantum computing has been around for decades, it's only recently that scientists have been able to realize its potential.
The official Oxford University site explains how the Department of Physics has "demonstrated the first instance of distributed quantum computing." By using a 'photonic network interface', the team managed to link two separate quantum processors into one fully connected quantum computer.
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Hyping the experiment, they think it will help tackle 'computational challenges previously out of reach'.
The study is titled "Distributed quantum computing across an optical network link" and uses qubits to replace the traditional ones and zeros that are used to transfer digital data.
Despite supercomputers achieving quantum teleportation before with qubits, this is the first time scientists have been able to use the quantum teleportation of logical gates across a network link.
The Department of Physics' Dougal Main explained: "Previous demonstrations of quantum teleportation have focused on transferring quantum states between physically separated systems.
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“Previous demonstrations of quantum teleportation have focused on transferring quantum states between physically separated systems.
“In our study, we use quantum teleportation to create interactions between these distant systems. By carefully tailoring these interactions, we can perform logical quantum gates – the fundamental operations of quantum computing – between qubits housed in separate quantum computers.
“This breakthrough enables us to effectively 'wire together' distinct quantum processors into a single, fully-connected quantum computer."
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It's hoped that quantum systems can be built and scaled up with tech that's already available, with UK Quantum Computing and Simulation Hub's Professor David Lucas adding: "Our experiment demonstrates that network-distributed quantum information processing is feasible with current technology.
“Scaling up quantum computers remains a formidable technical challenge that will likely require new physics insights as well as intensive engineering effort over the coming years.”
While we might still be a while away from living our Stargate fantasies, the world of tomorrow might be closer than you think.