The blogsite "Big Think" reported that scientists from the Yokohama National University in Japan had succeeded to "teleport" quantum information within a diamond. Their study is an important step in the field of quantum information technology.
Hideo Kosaka, the Yokohama National University researcher who led the study, explained that the goal was to get data where it doesn't normally go. "Quantum teleportation permits the transfer of quantum information into an otherwise inaccessible space," Professor Kosaka explained to Big Think. "It also permits the transfer of information into a quantum memory without revealing or destroying the stored quantum information."
The "inaccessible space" explored in the study was the lattice of carbon atoms in a diamond. The strength of the structure stems from the diamond's organization that has six protons and six neutrons in the nucleus, with six spinning electrons around it. As they bond to the diamond, the atoms form a super-strong lattice.
For their experiments, Kosaka and his team focused on defects that sometimes arise in diamonds, when a nitrogen atom appears in vacancies that would ordinarily house carbon atoms.
Kosaka's team manipulated an electron and a carbon isotope in such a vacancy by running a microwave and a radio wave into the diamond via a very thin wire - one fourth the width of a human hair. The wire was attached to the diamond, creating an oscillating magnetic field.
The scientists controlled the microwaves sent to the diamond to transfer information within it. In particular, they employed a nitrogen nano magnet to transfer the polarization state of a photon to a carbon atom, effectively achieving teleportation.