Unlike regular computers where data is stored in binary bits as 0 or 1, the “qubits” in quantum computers can exist as both at the same time. Stranger still, this information can be effectively “teleported” over any distance. Now, scientists from Austria and China have managed to create photons that exist as 0,1 and 2 simultaneously, and teleported these complex quantum states.
Quantum computers are poised to leave traditional computers and even supercomputers in the dust, and they owe their exponential increase in power to the fact that they go beyond binary. One “bit” of information isn’t limited to a 0 or a 1 – it can be either or both at the same time, much like Schrödinger’s infamous cat.
In theory, adding extra states boosts the power even more: throw in a 2, for example, and the range of possible states goes up exponentially. One qubit can be any individual value, or any pairing of two, or all three at once.
And now these theoretical higher-dimension quantum states have not only been demonstrated in lab experiments, but teleported as well. The team includes scientists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the University of Vienna, and the University of Science and Technology of China.
The team based its experiments on a long-standing favorite called the Bell test. In this, two photons are emitted in different directions at the same time, and when a certain property of one is manipulated and measured, the other usually ends up being the same. That information appears to be “teleported” to the second photon, no matter how far apart they are.
For the new study, the researchers adapted the classic experiment to teleport a three-level state, which they call a “qutrit.” The quantum state in this case is which of three optical fibers a photon is traveling through – remembering of course, that quantum physics allows a single photon to be in any or all three of the fibers at once.
The team used a multiport beam splitter to direct the photons, and then manipulated their states using auxiliary photons. By carefully controlling the interference patterns of these photons, the team was able to successfully teleport that quantum information to another photon, even though the two photons never interacted physically.
This experiment shows that quantum teleportation can not only be done in three dimensions, but theoretically it can be done in any number of dimensions.
This study is a step towards harnessing quantum mechanics for better electronics. In the not-too-distant future, a quantum internet could connect quantum computers together to send data incredibly fast through quantum teleportation.
The research was published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Source: University of Vienna
As a total layman (which probably means I'm wrong) the only way I can think of to send "information" via entanglement might be via which dimension you choose to measure? If you measure about dimension "X" with possible values (a or b), if particle 1 = a , then you know particle 2 = b. Maybe you could say at 12:00 we'll measure particle 1 against dimension "Y" if we want to say "hi" and dimension "X" if we want to say "bye" . At 12:01 if you'd measure particle 2. If you can't measure about the "Y" dimension you can conclude that the waveform collapsed on the "X" dimension and therefore that particle 1 was measured along "X" and your plan says that means "hi"
Experimental multi-level quantum teleportation
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1904.12249.pdf
Quantum teleportation in high dimensions
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1906/1906.09697.pdf
Quite complex in quantum mathematics, but simply the apparent collapse of the wave-function occurs all over our universe in a measurement over 13.6 billions light years, at a nearly infinite speed that remains to be measured, witout teleporting real information !
Equivalently, all observers remain in the same world or universe when our big universe splits into many parallel universes in a quite complex measurement, without collapse !!
The entangled quantum state is the same over all of our universe and thus a measurement at one point on a delocalized entangled quantum state looks teleported identically to all others measurements far away.
So when two particles move away at light speed and some time later (when they are, obviously, further apart that photons can travel between them) one of them is observed and its wave form collapses, the other particle's does the exact same thing simultaneously. Sounds maddening, but that's why Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance"
No wonder we spend astronomical sums on large antennas and get.....NADA! The real commo is sent thru quantum means, secure as the best code that exists.