Physicists Break Teleportation Record

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eleportation is commonly understood as a means of moving objects (or people) from one location to another in an instant, usually by disassembling particles and reassembling them at their destination. That remains a far-distant fantasy. But quantum teleportation, which is the transporting of information, is possible, if not yet practical.

But now Chinese scientists have made a small stride in quantum teleportation. The previous record for quantum teleportation involved beaming photons over a distance of 10 kilometers, but physicists have now beamed photons nearly ten times that distance.

Physicists from the University of Science and Technology of China in Shanghai used a laser to beam the photons and retrieve them 97 kilometers away. Beaming information in this manner is nothing special, but maintaining the information contained in those photons is tricky, since beams widen over space.

As explained in the Technology Review, "The idea is not that the physical object is teleported but the information that describes it. This can then be applied to a similar object in a new location which effectively takes on the new identity."

So we’re still light years away from “Beam me up, Scotty,” but the scientists believe we are one step closer to near instantaneous satellite uplinks.