Beam me out of prison.
Posted on 06/16/2004 1:54:18 PM PDT by vannrox
TED: 2:55 pm EDT June 16, 2004
UPDATED: 3:03 pm EDT June 16, 2004
In a step toward making ultra-powerful computers, scientists have transferred physical characteristics between atoms by using a phenomenon so bizarre that even Albert Einstein called it spooky.
Such "quantum teleportation" of characteristics had been demonstrated before between beams of light.
The work with atoms is "a landmark advance," H.J. Kimble of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., and S.J. van Enk of Bell Labs in Murray Hill, N.J., declare in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
Two teams of scientists report similar results in that issue. One group was led by David J. Wineland of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo., and the other by Rainer Blatt of the University of Innsbruck in Austria.
Teleportation between atoms could someday lie at the heart of powerful quantum computers, which are probably at least a decade away from development, Wineland said. Although his work moved information about atomic characteristics only a tiny fraction of an inch, that's in the ballpark for what would be needed inside a computer, he said.
His work involved transmitting characteristics between pairs of beryllium atoms, while the Austrian work used pairs of calcium atoms. Each atom's "quantum state," a complex combination of traits, was transmitted to its counterpart.
Key to the process was a phenomenon called entanglement, which Einstein derided as "spooky action at a distance" before experiments showed it was real.
Basically, researchers can use lab techniques to create a weird relationship between pairs of tiny particles. After that, the fate of one particle instantly affects the other; if one particle is made to take on a certain set of properties, the other immediately takes on identical or opposite properties, no matter how far away it is and without any apparent physical connection to the first particle.
The "fidelity value" of the transport, according to the article, is about 75% with entanglement but 66% without entanglement. Thus you would be only 25% fly with the new setup.
This theory would be the Inexplicable Communion Theory. Careers are changing as we speak.
Damn, you beat me to it...
1st LP " waiting for the electrician or someone like him"..
my favorite is "Dont crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers"..
these guys are probably all lefties, like everyone else out here.
"Waiting for the electrician or someone like him". Wow. I can't believe anyone got that one. And that quick. Congrats. I've watched Tripping the Rift a couple of times and you know I think Chode's voice should have been Jason Alexander's (like Duckman).
[Techcor:] "How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all". Line from a comedy sketch. Bet no one knows which one.[Chode:] Is it from "waiting for the electrician or someone like him" or is it from "we're all bozo's on this bus???"
I don't recall, but we should ask Nick Danger, Third Eye!
Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos, that I'm reading now, covers this well. Good book!
Call me when they get the 'Holodeck' and the '7 of 9 is your girlfriend' program working.
You are correct, sir (or madam). This place is quicker than I thought. Eddie Murphy actually used one of their lines in a movie (Vampire in Brooklyn) which was "He's no fun. He fell right over." But I can't remember which album that was from.
Well, cut vannrox some slack. Declaring that "Ansible communication from Orson Scott Card's 'Ender's Game' and Usula K. LeGuin's 'The Left Hand of Darkness' is real!" might have been a bit obscure... :)
Tea, Earl Grey, hot.
"Chrome fender dents, sneeze through window vents and a complete line of accessories designed with your mind, in mind"
"Nicky, Nicky, are you alright?
Yes
Then stop slapping me... ""
Good stuff. Thanks for reminding me...
So how does this affect causality, if at all?
Beam me out of prison.
I was thinking more along the lines of "Beer, Rolling Rock, Cold"
Just remember- "Everything you know is wrong!"
Dang! You mean your soul will be owned by Big Brother Gates, and you'll have to get authorization to get to Heaven from one of yesterdays fry cooks?
Transporter psychosis. Is it real or just an excuse by liberals for antisocial behavior?
bump
Okay, you've got me there, but hey, don't you have a keg on tap in your home?
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