Teleporter sends ions on long-distance journey

February 4, 2009 | Source: New Scientist Physics & Math

University of Maryland researchers have built a teleporter capable of sending the state of ytterbium ions from one side of the lab to the other; something that until now had only been possible with photons.

A laser beam makes each ion emit a photon. Each ion-photon pair is “entangled” in a shared quantum state in which what happens to one particle can affect the other, no matter how far apart they are. The photons then pass through an optical device which entangles them with each other, a process that also entangles the ytterbium ions with each other.

The promise of this new process is that it could form the basis of a “quantum repeater” that will enable quantum communication over almost any distance: ion teleporters placed at regular intervals along a fibre could briefly store quantum states before sending them on their way, so no single photon has to travel too far.