Quantum Entanglement to cut data travel time
So I read this on Kotaku and thought it was pretty interesting.
http://kotaku.com/5557626/quantum-co...ve-men-anymore
Quote:
In Mass Effect 2, the mysterious Illusive Man was able to stay in touch with the Normandy at any point in the universe using quantum entanglement. Chinese scientists have used similar technology to "teleport" data nearly 10 miles.
Calling the process teleportation is a bit of a stretch, but quantum entanglement is just as fantastic as the prospect of transmitting matter across thin air, made slightly spookier by the fact that it actually works.
Here's what happens: particles can become entangled with one another to the point where a state change in one particle is taken on by the other, even if the two are separated by a great distance. By manipulating the quantum state of one of two entangled particles, scientists can send coded messages across space.
Imagine a light switch, magically linked with another light switch across the street. Turning off the light switch in one location turns the lights off in both locations.
Now instead of a light switches, imagine two quantum entangled photons of light. Changing the polarity of one causes a change in the polarity of the other.
It's this quantum entanglement theory that allows the Illusive Man in Mass Effect 2 to appear on board the new Normandy. His image is piped through one quantum entangled particle. Millions of light years away on the Normandy, the other quantum entangled particle reacts the same way as its pair.
Of course we're a long way from projecting images.
Right now it's strictly data, and up until recently the distance limit has been a few hundred yards before the particles detangle.
Chinese scientists used a blue laser, a semiconductor, and a beta-barium borate crystal to fire one quantum entangled photo 9.9 miles away without destabilizing the entanglement. When the polarity of one photon changed, so did the other.
"This is the longest reported distance over which photonic teleportation has been achieved to date, more than 20 times longer than the previous implementation," said Cheng-Zhi Peng, one of the co-authors of the study and a scientist at University of Science and Technology of China and Tsinghua University in Beijing.
It's a huge leap forward in quantum technology, essentially transmitting data from one location to the other at speeds faster than light.
While the receiver of the data would require a key transmitted via normal means to decode the data, negating the speed benefit, the security of this photonic teleportation communication would be astounding. In effect, only someone in possession of the quantum entangled particle could even hope to decipher the data, and even then they'd need a key.
The Chinese scientists speculate they could have ground to satellite quantum communication working within the next few years.
The Illusive Man would be pleased.
Now, when it comes to this stuff I'm about as educated as the next random guy who has lived under a rock all his life. But I was particularly interested at some comments stating that this may be used for gaming to cut down pings. Now I'm not getting all excited or anything because for all I know the people saying this are as educated as me. So is anyone here knowledgeable about this stuff? It piqued my interest to hear about Australia finally playing with the rest of the world lol. It especially made me think of b.net 2, and the latency it has. (Perhaps in the far future, 10 years from now if b.net 2 is still up, this might be incorporated?)
Anyway, sounds like interesting stuff.
Re: Quantum Entanglement to cut data travel time
Quantum entanglement in my b.net?
Hell, it's about time.
ha!
Re: Quantum Entanglement to cut data travel time
When people start looking for potential soultion in Quantum physics, you definitely know BattleNet 2.0 has serious latency problems. :D
By the way, had "quantum entanglement" been an option for a relationship status on Facebook, I'd use it. :cool:
Re: Quantum Entanglement to cut data travel time
Well, in the short term, this could be an amazing thing for near-future communication breakthroughs.
And someday, it might actually lead to teleportation of actual matter, rather than just information. Wouldn't that be a real hoot.
Re: Quantum Entanglement to cut data travel time
It's like two guys having a pendulum such that the bobs are both on opposite sides. So if they split up, one guy knows that whatever side of the pendulum the bob is on, it must be on the opposite side for the other guy. In this case it's easy to figure out what the other pendulum, or particle, is doing. Is information here being transmitted faster then light? Sure, I guess. But I think the problem with this technology was always that the data sent was useless - particles are random and not easily predictable like a pendulum. I'm not 100% on this though, since my knowledge of this subject is limited, so anybody feel free to correct me.
Re: Quantum Entanglement to cut data travel time
This brings back memories of ten years ago when I first heard that scientists in Australia managed to teleport a laser beam.
Re: Quantum Entanglement to cut data travel time
Quote:
Originally Posted by
//MavericK\\
Well, in the short term, this could be an amazing thing for near-future communication breakthroughs.
And someday, it might actually lead to teleportation of actual matter, rather than just information. Wouldn't that be a real hoot.
The Laws of Physics say no, Maverick.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gradius
It's like two guys having a pendulum such that the bobs are both on opposite sides. So if they split up, one guy knows that whatever side of the pendulum the bob is on, it must be on the opposite side for the other guy. In this case it's easy to figure out what the other pendulum, or particle, is doing. Is information here being transmitted faster then light? Sure, I guess. But I think the problem with this technology was always that the data sent was useless - particles are random and not easily predictable like a pendulum. I'm not 100% on this though, since my knowledge of this subject is limited, so anybody feel free to correct me.
Just about what I know. IIRC, being able to send actual info through the system would violate Casualty.
Even if you could send information, and it was instantaneous, that doesn't mean that the bandwidth would be infinite. What if the particle can "oscillate" only so many times per second? What if you can only detect 50,000 oscillations per second? My layman's knowledge of this (backed up by a lot of sci-fi, seven years of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines, and a BS in BS) state that you would have a bandwidth of about... 50 kilobits
I guess I'm making assumptions here, but the system would be limited by how fast the machine can manipulate the particle. And I don't think that could happen very fast.
Quite honestly, I think we're best left to going completely fiber-optic.
Re: Quantum Entanglement to cut data travel time
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Quirel
The Laws of Physics say no, Maverick.
They would have said the same thing to the notion that time is relative some hundred years back (give or take a decade). :cool:
Re: Quantum Entanglement to cut data travel time
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Quirel
The Laws of Physics say no, Maverick.
Oh no....I'm not getting drawn into another Newton/Physics/LHC discussion :)
Move along....move along....
Re: Quantum Entanglement to cut data travel time
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eligor
They would have said the same thing to the notion that time is relative some hundred years back (give or take a decade). :cool:
Yeah, I know that the laws of physics aren't final, and there's quite a bit they're having problems explaining. But any NEW theory has to agree with the evidence that backed PREVIOUS theories. And the current laws of physics (Particularly casualty) have a big say in this.
Anyhow, this is hardly teleporting. It's manipulating matter at the quantum level to cause another bit of matter to adopt the same state. Transmission of matter isn't taking place.
Re: Quantum Entanglement to cut data travel time
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Quirel
Anyhow, this is hardly teleporting. It's manipulating matter at the quantum level to cause another bit of matter to adopt the same state. Transmission of matter isn't taking place.
Even if it's just instant transmission of data, it's still teleportation of a kind.
(besides, there are those who claim that matter is just another form of data in any case) ;)
