What is Quantum Teleportation?

To have the basic idea of quantum theory we need to know about quantum teleportation and how it works. Quantum teleportation is one of the important techniques that helps us understand how qubits are transferred in quantum computing. It gives us knowledge about how quantum computers work.

Quantum teleportation simplifies the functions of quantum computing and its uses.

What is Teleportation?

Teleportation is generally referred to as the transfer of matter from one place to another without traveling through physical distance in between. It is often linked with time travel and a concept of science fiction. In real teleportation remains a theory as there is no proper evidence and scientists are exploring it.

What is Quantum Teleportation?

Quantum teleportation is a method for transferring quantum data to a receiver from a sender far away. Quantum teleportation only transfers quantum data. There is no need for the sender to know which quantum state is being transferred. The location of the receiver can remain hidden, but classical information needs to be sent from recipient to sender to complete the quantum teleportation. It cannot occur faster than the speed of light because classical data needs to be sent.

The theory for quantum teleportation was proposed in 1993 by Charles Bennett, Gilles Brassard, Claude Crepeau, Richard Jozsa, Asher Peres, and Bill Wootters. Since 2015, experiments on quantum teleportation have gone from simple to complex quantum states.

How does Quantum Teleportation Work?

Quantum teleportation works on the principles of quantum theory, like entanglement and classical communication.

To start with the quantum teleportation process, a qubit state needs to be prepared to teleport but before that two qubits are interconnected and one qubit is measured which instantly affects the other qubit irrespective of the distance.

Now, the sender needs to perform the bell state measurement, meaning measuring the states of the qubits to be teleported alongside one of the entangled qubits. This measurement reduces both qubits into a specific entangled state.

Later, the results of the measurement are transmitted by the sender. Two bits of classical information to the recipient. In the end, the receiver used the classical information to change their entangled qubit, transforming it into an exact duplicate of the original qubit state. Through this process, the original qubit is teleported to the receiver without physically traversing the qubit itself.

Challenges of Quantum Teleportation

The following are the challenges of the quantum teleportation −

• Quantum teleportation requires high accuracy and measurements of quantum states which is difficult to achieve outside the laboratory.
• Developing suitable quantum memory and communication is difficult. It’s not easy maintaining the integrity of quantum information while ensuring compatibility with existing classical systems and protocols.
• Quantum information can be affected by environmental interference which can lead to loss of quantum properties or quantum decoherence.

Real-world Applications of Quantum Teleportation

Quantum teleportation applications include measurement-based quantum computing, fault-tolerant quantum computation, and quantum repeaters. These applications transfer unknown non-classical states using shared entanglement and local communication. The information is encoded in quantum states and then sent to a recipient, which can be decoded later.

The following are the different real world examples of the quantum teleportation −

• The Chinese satellite Micius used principles of quantum mechanics, including quantum teleportation. It showed QKD (Quantum key demonstration) over long distances.
• Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China built a small-scale quantum network that uses teleportation to connect multiple nodes
• IBM has integrated teleportation protocols into their quantum computing platforms, allowing users to explore quantum states and teleportation
• In 2020, a team at the Australian National University successfully teleported quantum information between two quantum bits (qubits) over a distance of about 2 meters.