| Author |
Scientists demonstrate teleportation breakthrough |
gelfen
Joined: Nov 22, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Melbourne, Australia
PM |
from ZDNet Australia
By AAP
07 May 2004
Superfast computers, unbreakable codes and completely secure communications are a step closer, with Australian scientists today demonstrating how to teleport data to multiple receivers.
This follows the major breakthrough two years ago when members of the Australian National University (ANU) Quantum Optics Group demonstrated teleportation of a laser beam between two points.
In a new world first for the rarefied field of quantum physics, they have now proven they can teleport a laser to three recipients.
But the information is only recoverable if any two of the recipients collaborate, in what's called quantum secret sharing.
Group leader Dr Ping Koy Lam said it would be expected that each of three recipients would gain one third of the information. But in quantum physics, that's not what happens.
Rather, each has nothing. But by combining their efforts -- in this case their laser beams -- any two can recover all the information.
"That's the magic of it," he said today. "If any two get together, you get back 100 percent of the information."
The ANU team spent more than a year working through the theory, then proving it works on a large tabletop apparatus, involving multiple lasers, mirrors, lenses and computers in the optics lab at ANU. This was a true multinational effort involving collaboration with the University of Calgary, Canada, with key work performed at ANU by Dr Lam, Belgian researcher Dr Thomas Symul and doctoral student Andrew Lance.
As well, the Australian Research Council plus Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation and Defence Signals Directorate have assisted with the funding.
Dr Lam agreed that quantum physics wasn't readily explicable to those not familiar with this complex area.
He compared their work to that of early scientists who had great difficulty explaining to their patrons the potential uses of electricity.
"Quantum information research is a really hot topic in science today because it holds many possibilities and potential to produce technological improvements, particularly in the areas of computer science and telecommunications," he said.
| |
|
batesie
Joined: Feb 13, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: London, UK
PM |
bang goes my brain. too early for that, 'does not compute!'...
This message was posted from a P900 |
masseur
Joined: Jan 03, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney, London
PM |
if any of you are into all star trek science, I can highly recommend a book called The Physics of Star Trek
Sure, we all know Star Trek is fiction, but warp drives and transporters and holodecks don't seem altogether implausible. Are any of these futuristic inventions fundamentally outlawed by physics as we understand it today? The Physics of Star Trek takes a lighthearted look at this subject, speculating on how the wonders of Star Trek technology might actually work--and, in some cases, revealing why the inventions are impossible or impractical even for an advanced civilization. (Example: "dematerializing" a person for transport would require about as much energy as is released by a 100-megaton hydrogen bomb). The Physics of Star Trek deserves merit for providing a refresher course on topics such as relativity and antimatter, but let's face it: the reason most people will want to read this book is simply that it's fun to poke holes in the premises of their favorite science fiction shows!
Even those who have never watched an episode of Star Trek will be entertained and enlightened by theoretical physicist Krauss's adventurous investigation of interstellar flight, time travel, teleportation of objects and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Case Western Reserve professor Krauss maintains that Star Trek's writers were sometimes far ahead of scientists?and famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking's foreword, endorsing the possibilities of faster-than-light travel and journeying... read more --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
o What warps when you're traveling at warp speed?
o What's the difference between a holodeck and a hologram?
o What happens when you get beamed up?
o What's the difference between a wormhole and a black hole?
o What is antimatter, and why does the Enterprise need it?
o Are time loops really possible, and can I kill my grandmother before I am born?
o Discover the answers to these and many other fascinating questions from a renowned physicist and dedicated Trekker.
o Featuring a section on the top ten physics bloopers and blunders in Star Trek as selected by Nobel-Prize winning physicists and other devout Trekkers!
"Today's science fiction is often tomorrow's science fact. The physics that underlines Star Trek is surely worth investigating. To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit."
--From the foreword by Stephen Hawking
|
gelfen
Joined: Nov 22, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Melbourne, Australia
PM |
it is indeed a very good book. i was lucky enough to pick up a copy a few years ago.
two other similar books i can recommend, for Terry Pratchett fans, are "The Science of Discworld" and "The Science of Discworld II: The Globe". there used to be a "Science of Star Wars" around a few years ago too.
|
bahbahsupercar
Joined: Mar 24, 2004
Posts: 248
From: Newcastle upon The Tyne
PM |
oh my god........ were is my gun | |
|
Access the forum with a mobile phone via esato.mobi
|
Posted: 2004-05-07 09:11
