In your dream, you must have thought that one day you will be able to deliver your body from one place to another, any corner of the world, just one button? No no? But in 2024, scientists did something like this, which is bringing this dream closer to reality.
Right now you cannot reach your office or grandmother’s house by teleport, but scientists have taken a big step, which is called quantum teleportation. And the most funny thing? All this happened in the stars of the Internet, from which you send WhatsApp messages every day. Watch videos of cats on YouTube.
Come, let us understand it in an easy and fun way that it is quantum teleportation, how it works, and why it is so amazing.
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What is quantum teleportation?
First of all, understand that quantum teleportation does not mean sending your body from one place to another like magic (at least not now!). This is a technique in which scientists send quantum state (ie special information of a particle) to another, without taking it physically.
You understand it like this: Suppose you have a special diary in which you have written some secret codes. Now you want to give this diary to your friend, who stays 30 km away. But you do not want anyone else to see it.
In quantum teleportation, you magically transfer the information of that diary to your friend’s diary, without taking the diary somewhere. And old diary? She disappears on its own.
What happened in 2024?
In 2024, Prem Kumar, scientist from Northwestern University, USA, and his team performed a big feat. He first teleported the quantum state through a 30 km long fiber optic cable (which is used to run the Internet).
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And that too when internet data (eg bank transaction, YouTube video and text messages) was running in the same cable at a speed of 400 gigabit per second.
It was as if you put a super delicate, sugar sweets in the strong flow of the Ganges river and it reaches the right side on the other side. Scientists used many smart tricks to do so, so that they do not deteriorate delicate quantum information.
Why is the quantum state so delicate?
The quantum world is very strange. Things are clean in our everyday items (such as ball, book or your phone) or not. But in the world of quantum, a particle (eg photon, which is a small part of light) can live in many possibilities simultaneously. This is called Quantum State.
But this quantum state is very critical. A slight heat, electricity or a collision of other waves can ruin it. It is called decohren’s, that is, that specialty of quantum state ends.
Therefore, it is so difficult to send it from one place to another. And when it comes to internet cable, in which a lot of data is running, then this work becomes even more difficult.
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How did scientists do it?
Prem Kumar’s team used many smart methods …
- Choosing the right wavelength: He sent his photon (light particle) to a wavelength where the internet data does not spoil his path. Understand this that you sent your delicate sweets by a special path, where the rest do not hit him.
- Separating Quantum Channel: He created a special channel for photons, so that he would not be lost in the congestion of internet data.
- Reducing scattering: When the rays of light collide with other rays, they are shattered. Scientists adopted such tricks that their photons did not scatter and reach the right side.
Because of all this, for the first time he managed to teleport the quantum state amidst real internet traffic.
Why is this so great?
You must be wondering that all this is the job of scientists, what do we have to do with it? But just think, what are the benefits of this discovery…
- Super Secure Internet: The way to send data from quantum teleportation is so safe that no hacker can break it. Even if someone tries, the quantum state will be ruined immediately. Hacking will be detected. That is, your bank password, credit card details or personal chats may be more secure than ever.
- Quantum Internet: This technique can create a quantum internet in future, which will be millions of times faster and powerful than today’s Internet. This can lead to revolution in computing, data processing and sensor technology.
- New technology: With quantum teleportation, scientists can create new types of sensors, medical devices and superfast computers, which will be ahead of today’s technology.
- Old cable, new work: The biggest thing is, there is no need to lay a new internet cable for this. The same fiber optic cable, which runs the Internet today, will also work for quantum communication.
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Will we really be able to teleport?
Now the question that must have been coming to your mind again and again whether I will really be able to teleport from one place to another, like in a star trek? The answer is not now, but perhaps yes in future.
For now, scientists are only able to teleport quantum information of small particles (such as photons). But as these techniques increase, scientists will try to teleport the information of humans such as molecules, then perhaps complex molecules, and one day human information.
But for this, a lot of challenges have to be crossed, such as keeping the quantum state safe on a large scale and applying it to humans.
What next?
This discovery of 2024 showed that quantum teleportation was not just about books and labs. It is now working in the real world. Scientists will now try to improve this technique further, so that they can work with long distances and more data.
Prem Kumar says that our job shows that quantum and classical networks can work simultaneously in the same fiber optic system. This opens the way to take quantum communication to the next level.
So, is this the future?
Absolutely! This discovery is taking us closer to the world, where the internet will not only be faster, but will also be super secure and super smart. It may be a few decades later, you can teleport your friend and tell that man, I just just reached Tokyo from New York.
Till then, enjoy this amazing discovery. Next time you see something on the internet, remember that there is probably a quantum photon in the same cable.
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