Quantum teleportation moves one quantum state to another.

Usually done with two-dimensional pieces of information called qubits, scientists were able to transport 3-dimensional qutrits.

These qutrits could allow quantum computing to expand into the next generation.



Scientists have successfully teleported a three-dimensional quantum state. The international effort between Chinese and Austrian scientists could be crucial for the future of quantum computers.

The researchers, from Austrian Academy of Sciences, the University of Vienna, and University of Science and Technology of China, were able to teleport the quantum state of one photon to another distant state. The three-dimensional transportation is a huge leap forward. Previously, only two-dimensional quantum teleportation of qubits has been possible. By entering a third dimension, the scientists were able to transport a more advanced unit of quantum information known as a "qutrit."

Quantum computing is different than what's known as classical computing, which is what powers phones and laptops. These traditional devices store information in bits, which are represented with a binary 0 or 1. A good metaphor is to imagine a circle, where each 0 and 1 are on opposite points. In Quantum computing, which deals with atomic and subatomic particles, qubits can exist at both of those points as well as anywhere else in the circle.

"The basics for the next-generation quantum network systems is built on our foundational research today."

If bits are only zeroes and ones, and qubits can exist anywhere in between the zeroes and ones, then a qutrit exists in a three-dimensional sphere in what the scientists are calling a "two." A qutrit is able to hold the superposition of three states at the same time, meaning it overlaps three different waves at the same time. The photon that the scientists were able to transport went from one qutrit location to another.

This sort of multidimensional quantum teleportation has been theorized since the 1990s, but actually pulling it off is something else entirely.

"First, we had to design an experimental method for implementing high-dimensional teleportation, as well as to develop the necessary technology", says Manuel Erhard from the Vienna Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in a press statement.

In quantum computing, particles that interact or share spatial proximity in a way that they can't be described separately from each other are referred to as entangled. The simplest form of quantum entanglement is known as a Bell state, named after Northern Irish physicist John Stewart Bell, and it's crucial to understanding quantum teleportation. A major challenge for the scientists was to create a Bell state not with a qubit, but with the more complex qutrit.

To do so, they created a "multiport beam splitter, which directs photons through several inputs and outputs and connects all optical fibers together," according to the press statement. "In addition, the scientists used auxiliary photons—these are also sent into the multiple beam splitter and can interfere with the other photons."

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Quantum interference requires another leap of imagination. If a photon can exist in two places at the same time, thanks to the concept of superposition, then it's possible for the photon to interfere with itself or other photons. By sending in auxiliary photons as interference, the scientists were able to clear a lane for the qutrits to transport.

It's complex stuff for just a single photon. But the scientists insist that beyond the headline of teleportation, working with qutrits is crucial for dealing with increasingly large amounts of information. "This result could help to connect quantum computers with information capacities beyond qubits," says Anton Zeilinger, quantum physicist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Vienna, speaking in the press statement.

The process, as Scientific American noted earlier this month, could also be a method of encryption. Any outside interference with the complex process would fundamentally alter it, thus revealing an attempt at subterfuge.

"The basics for the next-generation quantum network systems is built on our foundational research today," says Jian-Wei Pan from the University of Science and Technology of China.

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