China launches the world's first quantum satellite on top of a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 16, 2016. The world's first quantum communication satellite, which China is preparing to launch, has been given the moniker "Micius," after a fifth century B.C. Chinese scientist, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced Monday. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)
BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- "Beam me up, Scotty." The famous "Star Trek" catchphrase has launched teleporting daydreams among science-fiction junkies the world over.
With China's successful launch of the world's first quantum communication satellite on Tuesday, Chinese scientists will conduct an experiment in transmitting quantum information from a ground station in Ali prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, to the satellite 500 kilometers above the earth, without having to move a physical particle.
Some believe that the experiment could be the first step to making the dream of teleportation through space a reality.
ENTANGLED PARTICLES
Quantum physics is the study of the universe's basic building blocks at a scale smaller than atoms. These tiny particles behave in a way that could overturn assumptions of how the world works.
Entanglement is one of the strange properties of quantum physics that so confounded Albert Einstein that he described as "spooky action at a distance" in 1948.
Scientists found that when two entangled particles are separated, one particle can somehow affect the action of the far-off twin at a speed faster than light.
Some scientists liken it to two pieces of paper that are distant from each other; if you write on one, the other immediately shows your message. In the quantum entanglement theory, this bizarre connection can happen even when the two particles are separated by a galaxy.
This magic-like connection has inspired the idea of quantum teleportation.
BREAKTHROUGHS
The first paper expounding the idea of quantum teleportation was published by six physicians in 1993.
In 1997, Austrian quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger succeeded in the first experimental verification of quantum teleportation. Since then, scientists have demonstrated quantum teleportation with different physical systems such as atoms, ions, electrons and superconducting circuits.
Meanwhile, the record distance for quantum teleportation is constantly growing.
Chinese scientist Pan Jianwei's research team was awarded the Physics World 2015 Breakthrough of the Year "for being the first to achieve the simultaneous quantum teleportation of two inherent properties of a fundamental particle - the photon," according to PhysicsWorld.com.
Pan regards the achievement as a step towards the teleportation of more complex quantum systems.
Despite the progress, Pan says the prospect of using it to beam people is still a distant dream. The technology is now mainly applied in the areas of quantum communication and computing.
But like most sci-fi fans, Pan hopes that day will come: "It's a common dream to see what's beyond our solar system. However, our life is limited, and we could grow old before we get out of the solar system in a spacecraft."
But as a vehicle to the stars, quantum teleportation might carry the generations to come, Pan says.
