Even though talking about quantum internet It may be something, a concept, that may still take several decades to arrive, the truth is that thanks to the work carried out by a group of Chinese scientists we are a little bit closer. This can be difficult to understand at first, but the truth is that it has been possible to demonstrate something that, at least for many physicists, seemed impossible.
It is true that if we look at the paper that has been published and corroborated by other scientists worldwide, the truth is that we need a fairly high knowledge base to truly understand what this team has achieved, a work that, by way of summary a little 'light', is based on power successfully send a photon by quantum teleportation at a distance, until now, unattainable by humans.
They manage to send a photon by quantum teleportation 500 kilometers away
Although it may seem trivial, we are facing an impressive advance, as well as that thanks to this achievement it has not only been possible to break the record for the quantum teleportation distance of a photon, but also to demonstrate that the very Albert Einstein was wrong when developing your Theory of relativity.
Developing this topic a little better, in the Theory of Relativity, simplifying it to the maximum, we find that the speed of an object depends on the observer who wants to measure it, a speed that cannot be greater than that of light. This is precisely what this group of scientists has shown to be uncertain as they have achieved take a photon from Earth to a satellite located 500 kilometers away instantly.
This project shows that the Theory of Relativity was wrong
As a detail, tell you that it is not the first time that this team of scientists has managed to teleport a photon. The differences compared to the previous time lie mainly in the distance since, if this time it was 500 kilometers in the previous one they were 'just'120 km. As expected, this distance is growing little by little since there are many variables that can interfere in a way that increases the chances that the particle to be sent can be lost or distorted along the way. For these reasons, scientists are slowly increasing the distance they will try to send the photon.
For scientists, there are many possibilities that humanity could manage to develop a system with the ability to teleport photons since, according to theory, this technology would allow us send information instantly between two points. As a negative point, for this to be achieved, they still have to work to eliminate all possible interferences that still exist, something that is being worked on today.
In the very long term, a much faster and more secure internet could be possible thanks to this technology
As an example of how interesting this technology can be, once it has been developed and all interferences that may degrade its use have been eliminated, is the power to offer a network where its security and confidentiality is within the reach of all users Of the same. This is as simple as the simple fact that, if any message we send, for example an email, is tapped by a third party, it will literally never reach its destination.
Undoubtedly, reaching this final goal would be something very interesting for human beings, especially today where we live in a situation where it is being shown that, no matter how much interest there is on the part of the institutions, the truth is that this secure internet that is being sold to us is just a utopia.
On the other hand, it is also true that we must take into account the purpose that, far from what the designers of this technology want to seek, the institutions, public and private, that are financing the development of this kind of hyper-fast and very secure internet that it is being presented to us.
Further information: MIT Technology Review