Captain Kirk's clone and the eavesdropper [teleportation]

University of York [UK] ^ | 16 February 2006 | Staff

[PatrickHenry]

Imagine Captain Kirk being beamed back to the Starship Enterprise and two versions of the Star Trek hero arriving in the spacecraft's transporter room.

It happened 40 years ago in an episode of the TV science fiction classic, and now scientists at the University of York and colleagues in Japan have managed something strikingly similar in the laboratory - though no starship commander was involved.

The first experimental demonstration of quantum telecloning has been achieved by scientists at the University of Tokyo, the Japan Science and Technology Agency, and the University of York. The work is reported in the latest issue of Physical Review Letters. Telecloning combines cloning (or copying) with teleportation (i.e., disembodied transport).

The scientists have succeeded in making the first remote copies of beams of laser light, by combining quantum cloning with quantum teleportation into a single experimental step. Telecloning is more efficient than any combination of teleportation and local cloning because it relies on a new form of quantum entanglement - multipartite entanglement.

Professor Sam Braunstein, of the Department of Computer Science at York, said: "Quantum mechanics allows us to do things which we previously thought were impossible. In 1998, I was involved in an experiment in America which was one of the first for quantum teleportation in which we transmitted a beam of light without it crossing the physical medium in between.

"This new experiment is an extension of that work. Whether it will change the world for individuals or is just of use to governments or big companies is hard to say. Any new protocol is like a new-born baby and it has to develop, but we know this one could be used to tap cryptographic channels.

"Quantum cryptographic protocols are so secure that they can not only discover tapping but also where and how much information is leaking out. Now, using telecloning, the identity and location of the eavesdropper can be concealed."

Telecloning and teleportation may no longer be theories, but we are still a long way from teleporting people.

Professor Braunstein said: "What we know is that it would be incredibly difficult and from the perspective of today's technology, a completely outrageous thing. But in 100 years, who knows?"

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[Communications Office info at the end of the article:]

• The article "Demonstration of quantum telecloning of optical coherent states" is scheduled for publication in the February 17 issue of the scientific journal "Physical Review Letters". The full list of authors is: S.Koike, H.Takahashi, H.Yonezawa, N.Takei, Prof. S.L.Braunstein, T.Aoki and Prof. A.Furusawa.

• Professor Braunstein joined the University of York in 2003. He is a recipient of the prestigious Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award. He has over 80 scientific papers published in refereed journals, which have been cited over 3400 times. His work on quantum teleportation, quantum computation, quantum lithography and quantum information has received extensive coverage in prestigious scientific venues such as Science, Nature, Physics Today, New Scientist and Optics and Photonics News, as well as on radio, television and daily newspapers (The Independent, The Times, The New York Times and more) - see www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~schmuel/NewsPR.html

• The Department of Computer Science at the University of York was awarded the highest possible 6* grade by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 2003. The department attracts more industrial funding for academic research in computing than any other department in the UK. Teaching in the Department of Computer Science was recently judged excellent by HEFCE. The Department has 400 undergraduates, 100 taught postgraduates and 100 full-time research students. The British Computer Society and the Institution of Electrical Engineers accredit the Department's courses. See www.cs.york.ac.uk/public.php

• The episode of Star Trek in which two Captain Kirks were created, due to a transporter malfunction, was called The Enemy Within which was first broadcast in the USA on 6 October 1966.

[PatrickHenry]

Not bad for a weekend article.

[PatrickHenry]

SciencePing

An elite subset of the Evolution list. See the list's explanation at my freeper homepage. Then FReepmail to be added or dropped.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Actually it was Riker on TNG that experienced the quantum telecloning, not Kirk. Kirk did the mirror world tour.

[kalee]

ping

[PJ-Comix]

Just remember that Spock needs to mate every 7 years or he will go crazy.

[PatrickHenry]

Your attention please: we all know about Star Trek, and we've all seen the pics, and we're all impressed with your HTML skills, so please -- please! -- don't spam the thread with goofy pics. Or if you must post them, at least address them to someone other than me.

[beaver fever]

Great that means I have two years to go before I go nuts..

Sure takes the pressure off.

[Dimensio]

Kirk was copied via transporter also, but he was split into "good" and "evil" Kirks. Still, Riker's transporter-cloning is a more apt example.

[Mr. Thorne]

Nope.

Kirk did the two for one tour as well. Episode 5, season 1, 'The Enemy Within'. (Oh for crying out loud, I looked it up online, NO, I am not THAT much of a fan.)

Anyway, crewmember injures self on planet, is beamed up, spills some radioactive rocks or some such on the transporter, and everything that comes thru after that is split in two. One really really nice, one really really nasty.

This is the one where we find out that deep down in his dark side, ol' James T really wants to bang Yeoman Rand something fierce (personally, I blame the uniform. Mini skirts and boots, hubba hubba).

[AntiGuv]

It's always cool to see the "impossible" become possible!

[Bender2]

Gad! Just tried this in my laboratory and all I got was two different editions of the New York Slimes...

.....

[Ichneumon]

Just remember that Spock needs to mate every 7 years or he will go crazy.

Don't we all?

[Ichneumon]

Gad!

"Good news, everyone...!"

[Bender2]

Boy, old Dick is on a spree...

[davisfh]

Visited your homepage. Funny in the extreme!

[GOPJ]

"Quantum cryptographic protocols are so secure that they can not only discover tapping but also where and how much information is leaking out. Now, using telecloning, the identity and location of the eavesdropper can be concealed."

In a war against a technological equal this will matter. Against folks who scribble comments on rice paper and have it hand carried, "not so much..." That said, this is cool.

[Dahoser]

While Kirk's dark side may have added crucial elements to his light side for command, his boinking aspects had to be present in both sides. No matter what the situation, Kirk found the time for some boinking.

• They're on the planet with the 20th century Roman empire: "Who are you? I'm Drusilla, the procounsul's total babe. But what about my friends? They'll be fine. Well, okay, let's boink."
• As thralls on Triskelion: "Uhura, you get the Ken doll but knock him in the chops and lock him in your cell. Chekov, you get the gym teacher with the 2-day stubble. I suggest you start running now. I'll be boinking the hottie who doesn't know a star from a flourescent fixture out behind those rocks."
• Same routine with the folks who took over the ship and took it out of the galaxy: "We have to make these people feel like humans. McCoy, you amp up the already edgy guy, Hanar so he feels like he's been forced to listen to 24 hours straight of Hillary Clinton speeches. Scotty, you get the big dumb guy totally sloshed even if it means using your 400 year old Macallan single malt. I'm going to boink the blonde in the midriff and leather pants."

And then there's that obsession with green chicks...

[VadeRetro]

It happened 40 years ago in an episode of the TV science fiction classic, and now scientists at the University of York and colleagues in Japan have managed something strikingly similar in the laboratory - though no starship commander was involved.

The article would be better with more info on what exactly got teleported/cloned and how.

[skinkinthegrass]

...Interesting read...
thanks, for this post AND post #6. :^)

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Visited your homepage. Funny in the extreme!

LOL. Cheney shoots Elmer Fudd! LOL. And the Rather Slimes frontpage is terrific: