Physics researchers say they have successfully teleported an atom nearly 10 feet with complete accuracy, hinting that large objects and people could travel by teleportation in the future.
"What we are teleporting is the state of a particle," said Ronald Hanson, a professor from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, as quoted by The Telegraph and other media. "If you believe we are nothing more than a collection of atoms strung together in a particular way, then in principle it should be possible to teleport ourselves from one place to another."
Physicists at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University sent an atom's worth of information between two bits of diamonds separated by around 10 feet. They have published their findings in the journal Science.
While transporting larger subjects through teleportation is currently out of the question, scientists say not to rule it out.
"In practice it's extremely unlikely, but to say it can never work is very dangerous," said Hanson. "I would not rule it out because there's no fundamental law of physics preventing it. If it ever does happen it will be far in the future."
Their work explored the concept of quantum entanglement, which is when particles far away from each other are linked, so whatever happens to one side also happens to the other. The researchers hope their work will someday help build a network of computers that cannot be hacked.
"The main application of quantum teleportation is a quantum version of the internet, extending a global network that we can use to send quantum information," said Hanson, as quoted by The Telegraph.
"What you're doing is using entanglement as your communication channel. The information is teleported to the other side, and there's no way anyone can intercept that information."
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