Scientists at the University of Queensland have achieved quantum teleportation within an electronic chip, transmitting an atom instantly from one place to another.

Researcher Dr Arkady Fedorov from UQ's ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems says the team has reigned in the behaviour of information on a quantum level: “For the first time, the stunning process of quantum teleportation has now been used in a circuit to relay information from one corner of the sample to the other... this is a process by which quantum information can be transmitted from one place to another without sending a physical carrier of information.”

A team including Dr Fedorov and Dr Matthias Baur, also working at the University of Queensland, says the incredible achievement opens the door for plenty more - leading to larger electronic networks and more functional electronic chips which can transmit data with no perceivable delay.

“In this process the information just appears at the destination, almost like teleportation used in the famous science fiction series Star Trek,” Dr Fedorov said.

“What makes our work interesting is the system uses a circuit, much like modern computer chips. In our system the quantum information is stored in artificial structures called quantum bits, and you can even see them with your bare eyes.”

“In our Superconducting Quantum Devices laboratory at UQ we are using this technology to further enhance our knowledge about the quantum nature,” Dr Fedorov said, “this quantum information allows us to do teleportation with impressive speed and accuracy above what has been achievable to date.”

The research paper recently published in the journal Nature suggested the physics of quantum communication can be tackled using electronic circuits at microwave frequencies, opening the door to long-distance communication by microwave and optical interfaces.

Full details of the ground-breaking and futuristic discoveries are in the paper titled ‘Deterministic quantum teleportation with feed-forward in a solid state system’.