Important note: this is about quantum teleportation. They transferred data between two quantum computers without a cable or wifi. Teleporting matter, let alone matter in useful quantities is far off.
this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2025
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That's not entirely correct, they did use a fiber optic cable to transfer the data, as the more detailed article linked in another comment states. Quantum entanglement itself can't be used to transfer data; you still need to send the entangled particles through some physical means.
So what is being teleported? The state of the two entangled particles?
This highlights the problem with using that term. The two particles assume a state at the same time at a distance. It has 0% to do with the colloquial term.
Yes. Information is what's being teleported. The photons that carry the information still have to travel from sender to recipient but the information they contain doesn't exist until it is received. Like how Shrodinger's Cat is both alive and dead until you open the box to check.
I see. that makes more sense, thanks!
No problem! I love getting into the comments under articles on quantum stuff 'cuz the topic is weirdly unintuitive from the classical perspective and a lot of folks share some common misconceptions about jargon like "teleportation" and "entanglement". Please do ask if you've got any other questions! 😄
So, Bluetooth?
nah, bluetooth and wifi both use electromagnetic radiation. I didn't read the article and I understand nothing about quantum mechanics, but I don't think they use photons in this. someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Allow me to oversimplify for the sake of understanding:
Quantum entanglement is a process where the measurable properties of two particles become linked. For example, an entangled pair of photons might share the same polarization, so that when you measure one, you'd also learn the polarization of the other without having to measure it.
That's quantum teleportation in a nutshell, send out an entangled pair of photons and each of the recipients will know what the other got without having to ask. They call it 'teleportation' because the information about who got what doesn't exist until the photons are measured, and can't be intercepted in transit because the act of measuring an entangled particle breaks the entanglement. You physically cannot tap or eavesdrop on a QE link. To do so successfully you would have to be able to capture a photon on the line and transmit an identical copy in its place simultaneously, but the act of measuring takes a non-zero amount of time and even a nanosecond of delay would be obvious to the intended recipient.
Entangled photons are like a pair of identical Shrodinger's Cats, you can't know if they are alive or dead until you open the box, but you do know that both boxes will show the same result regardless of where they end up.
What's new in this article is that they've managed to entangle entire qubits between separate computers, like a single Shrodinger's Cat that exists in two places at once. They'll be able to use this technique to develop the quantum equivalent of parallel processing.
They used a fiber optic cable which transmits information using photons.
Bluetooth ain't faster than the speed of light
It is, in fact, significantly slower, when it works at all.
This is not correct. Bluetooth is a radio frequency communication tool. RF is part of the electromagnetic spectrum and does, in fact, "move' at the speed of light.
I think they were making a joke about the bluetooth protocol rather than literally describing the electromagnetic field.
Oh... :(
What @knightly@pawb.social said, but I do appreciate the lesson!
Yes, I got really excited, wondering if they'd solved reassembly.
Clickbait and a borderline-lie.
Quantum teleportation is a very technical thing you can do with qubits; no actual matter is moved. If you can't adequately describe a qubit you shouldn't even care about this.
The actual paper is beyond my level of physics knowledge, but Oxford uni published an article about it themselves which looks far better to me. No clickbait headline and it explains the significance of the achievement far better
First distributed quantum algorithm brings quantum supercomputers closer
Great article, thank you for sharing
So not FTL right?
Correct. The speed of light is the speed limit of information in the universe.
Entanglement is neat because it allows us to transmit a quantum superposition to two places at once.
It's like an identical pair of Shrodinger's Cats. You can't know if the cat is alive or dead until you open the box, but you do know that the other box will show the same result as yours regardless of where it ends up.
The new thing they've figured out in this article is how to entangle qubits between separate quantum computers, essentially creating a single Shrodingers' Cat that exists in two computers simultaneously which allows them to do the quantum equivalent of parallel processing.
Articles/titles need to stop using the word 'teleportation' -_- it has very different implications
I don't disagree, but I think the bigger problem is journalists who misunderstand the topic and erroneously imply that "quantum" can enable faster-than-light or undetectable communication.
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I assume not, but primarily because I would expect the actual scientists and/or Oxford to make a bigger deal out of that if they had achieved it
Look, as someone that's not afraid to be wrong I'm gonna say that I'm skeptical and say that I don't trust this is real until I've read the research papers.
Reading the news nowadays kinda feels like "trust me bro" unless there are several additional systems based on logic that corroborates what is said as truth.
Edit:
I'll need more sleep before attempting to read let alone understand the published paper. No promises in how long it'll take for me to provide my thoughts on it.
Couldn't agree more. At first when I read it, I was like "wow", the my logical brain did a re-read and I was like "doubt".
This isn't a first, quantum teleportation has been a thing since 1997. The breakthrough here is teleporting the information of an entire logical gate. The usecase here enables them to link multiple smaller quantum processors together so they can act as one bigger system.
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Can someone explain the significance of quantum teleportation in qbit architectures?
From what little I understand, it relies on quantum entanglement instead of electrical current to 'pass' logic states between qbits in different physical space, but I'm wondering why (in this case) they still need to be connected by fiber optic cables?
I thought the point was that it didn't need to pass signals over physical media, and that was valuable because it was instantaneous and secure, but now it's sounding more like conventional computing...?
From what I understand, the significance is that you can transfer the states around while keeping them in a superposition. Thus you can continue to perform computations with them even after moving them to a physically separate quantum computer.
ah, ok that is interesting, thanks!
One step closer to beating the homophobia that is distance :3
Nah, this technique is more like having a Shrodinger's Cat that's in two places at once. It won't collapse the tyrrany of space, but it will allow us to build bigger and better quantum computers.
Oki :3