June 22, 2004

"One Atom to Beam Up"

SciScoop || Quantum Teleportation Of Matter Demonstrated

Now the quantum-research branch of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced the first quantum teleportation of ordinary matter - the atoms from which you and I are made.  Their teleportation gizmo is not the Star Trek style transporter quite yet.  Instead of making an atom itself vanish and reappear far away at another place, the latest NIST experiment transfered the quantum properties of an atom  instantaneously to another atom that was already far away.  The far-away atom didn't become a "twin" of the original test atom;  it effectively became the original atom itself, without having to be moved through space.  A subtle distinction, but an important one in a breakthrough experiment on ordinary matter like that all around and within us.

Posted by Vanderleun at June 22, 2004 8:42 AM
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That is fantastic. But what happened to the "essence" of the "far away" atom?

Posted by: NC3 at June 22, 2004 9:24 AM

Perhaps it decided, "I like matter but I don't give them my essence."

Posted by: Gerard Van der Leun at June 22, 2004 9:26 AM

Man that's an awesome way to go about transporters. I was wondering how they'd get around the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. "Heisenberg Compensators" was always a pretty lame Star Trek copout.

Posted by: Shawn Liu at June 23, 2004 12:20 PM