Quantum teleportation over a record-breaking distance of 143 kilometres

Beam me up!

ScienceDaily — An international research team including several scientists from the University of Waterloo has achieved quantum teleportation over a record-breaking distance of 143 kilometres through free space

The experiment saw the successful teleportation of quantum information -- in this case, the states of light particles, or photons -- between the Canary Islands of La Palma and Tenerife. The breakthrough is a crucial step toward quantum communications via satellite. 

Unlike the teleportation of solid objects popularized in science fiction, the experiment involved the teleportation of quantum states, an essential pre-requisite of quantum computing, quantum communication and other powerful technologies under development at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at Waterloo. 

The project, led by researchers from Vienna's Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, relied on algorithms and equipment developed in Waterloo. Their results were published this week in Nature.