Joe Yates
There are few facts in life: we all die, grass is green and teleportation is something from science-fiction.
Well, apparently that last one is a gray area after a team of scientists from the University of Oxford, UK, used a supercomputer to harness the ability to teleport.
It sounds like something straight out of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - it's taken me 27 years to realize that's the real name of the hit kids TV show... although that's nothing on the 138 years it has taken scientists to make it a reality.
So how have these mega-minds brought the phenomenon into existence?
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They used particles of light, known as photons, and they physically teleported them to a separate device - however, it is important to note that in this case, data is what is being transported between locations.
Speaking of the impressive feat, Oxford University said in a media release: "In a milestone that brings quantum computing tangibly closer to large-scale practical use, scientists at Oxford University’s Department of Physics have demonstrated the first instance of distributed quantum computing.
"Using a photonic network interface, they successfully linked two separate quantum processors to form a single, fully connected quantum computer, paving the way to tackling computational challenges previously out of reach. The results have been published in Nature."
Quantum computing has been around for decades, but with modern advances scientists are only just managing to harness its full potential.
The study, titled 'Distributed quantum computing across an optical network link', explained how the experiment demonstrated the distribution of quantum computations between two 'photonically interconnected trapped-ion modules'.
The modules were separated by around two metres, and each contained 'dedicated network and circuit qubits'.
"By using heralded remote entanglement between the network qubits, we deterministically teleport a controlled-Z (CZ) gate between two circuit qubits in separate modules, achieving 86% fidelity," the abstract read in part.
The researchers went on to explain how they searched the quantum mechanical algorithm database to see how well the first 'teleportation' did in terms of the fidelity of the qubits - with it coming in at 71 per cent, so not as great and that wasn't using photons.
It adds: "As photons can be interfaced with a variety of systems, the versatile DQC [distributed quantum computing] architecture demonstrated here provides a viable pathway towards large-scale quantum computing for a range of physical platforms."
Speaking about the results, UK Quantum Computing and Simulation Hub's Professor David Lucas added: "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.”