From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos   
   From Address: sdlitvin@earthlink.net   
   Subject: Scientists achieve reliable quantum teleportation   
      
   Physicists at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, part of the Delft    
   University of Technology in the Netherlands, report that they sent    
   quantum data concerning the spin state of an electron to another    
   electron about 10 feet away. The results can be replicated accurately    
   100 percent of the time, the team said.   
      
   Thanks to the strange properties of entanglement, this allows for that    
   data -- only quantum data, not classical information like messages or    
   even simple bits -- to be teleported seemingly faster than the speed of    
   light. The news was reported first by The New York Times on Thursday,    
   following the publication of a paper in the journal Science.   
      
   Proving Einstein wrong about the purview and completeness of quantum    
   mechanics is not just an academic boasting contest. Proving the    
   existence of entanglement and teleportation -- and getting experiments    
   to work efficiently, in larger systems and at greater distances -- holds    
   the key to translating quantum mechanics to practical applications, like    
   quantum computing. For instance, quantum computers could utilize that    
   speed to unlock a whole new generation of unprecedented computing power.   
      
   Quantum teleportation is not teleportation in the sense one might think.    
   It involves achieving a certain set of parameters that then allow    
   properties of one quantum system to get tangled up with another so that    
   observations are reflected simultaneously, thereby "teleporting" the    
   information from one place to another.   
      
   To do this, researchers at Delft first had to create qubits out of    
   classical bits, in this case electrons trapped in diamonds at extremely    
   low temperatures that allow their quantum properties, like spin, to be    
   observed.   
      
   A qubit is a unit of quantum data that can hold multiple values    
   simultaneously thanks to an equally integral quantum phenomenon called    
   superposition, a term fans of the field will accurately associate with    
   Heisenberg's uncertainty principal that says something exists in all    
   possible states until it is observed. It's the same way quantum    
   computing may one day surpass the speeds of classical computing by    
   allowing calculations to spread bit values between 0, 1 or any    
   probabilistic value between the two numbers -- in other words, a    
   superposition of both figures.   
      
   With quibits separated by a distance of three meters, the researchers    
   were able to observe and record the spin of one electron and see that    
   reflected in the other qubit instantly. It's an admittedly wonky    
   conception of data teleportation that requires a little head scratching    
   before it begins to clear up.   
      
   Still, its effects could be far reaching. The researchers are attempting    
   to increase that distance to more than a kilometer, which would be ample    
   leeway to test whether or not entanglement was a consistent phenomenon    
   and that the information was traveling faster than the speed of light.    
   Such experiments would more definitively knock down Einstein's    
   disqualification of entanglement due to its violation of classical    
   mechanics.   
      
   "There is a big race going on between five or six groups to prove    
   Einstein wrong," Ronald Hanson, a physicist leading the research at    
   Delft, told The New York Times. "There is one very big fish."   
      
   http://www.cnet.com/news/scientists-achieve-reliable-quantum-tel   
   portation-for-the-first-time/   
      
      
      
   --    
   Steven L.   
   --- Synchronet 3.15a-Linux NewsLink 1.92-mlp   
   --- SBBSecho 2.12-Linux   
    * Origin: telnet & http://cco.ath.cx - Dial-Up: 502-875-8938 (1:2320/105.1)