Quantum teleportation is one of the most important protocols in quantum information. By exploiting the physical resource of entanglement, quantum teleportation serves as a key primitive in a variety of quantum information tasks and represents an important building block for quantum technologies, with a pivotal role in the continuing progress of quantum communication, quantum computing and quantum networks. Here we review the basic theoretical ideas behind quantum teleportation and its variant protocols. We focus on the main experiments, together with the technical advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of the various technologies, from photonic qubits and optical modes to atomic ensembles, trapped atoms, and solid-state systems. Analysing the current state-of-the-art, wefinish by discussing open issues, challenges and potential future implementations.
From Science Fiction to RealityIt has been over two decades since the discovery of quantum teleportation, in what is arguably one of the most interesting and exciting implications of the 'weirdness' of quantum mechanics. Previous to this landmark discovery, this fascinating idea belonged to the realm of science fiction. First coined in a 1931 book by Charles H. Fort 1 , the term teleportation has since been used to refer to the process by which bodies and objects are transferred from one location to another, without actually making the journey along the way. Since then it has become a fixture of pop culture, perhaps best exemplified by Star Trek's celebrated catchphrase "Beam me up, Scotty."In 1993, a seminal paper 2 described a quantum information protocol, dubbed quantum teleportation, that shares several of the above features. In this protocol, an unknown quantum state of a physical system is measured and subsequently reconstructed or 'reassembled' at a remote location (the physical constituents of the original system remain at the sending location). This process requires classical communication and excludes superluminal communication. Most importantly, it requires the resource of quantum entanglement 3,4 . Indeed, quantum teleportation can be seen as the protocol in quantum information that most clearly demonstrates the character of quantum entanglement as a resource: Without its presence, such a quantum state transfer would not be possible within the laws of quantum mechanics.Quantum teleportation plays an active role in the progress of quantum information science [5][6][7][8] . On the one hand it is a conceptual protocol crucial in the development of formal quantum information theory, on the other it represents a fundamental ingredient to the development of many quantum technologies. Schemes such as quantum repeaters 9 -pivotal for quantum communication over large distances -quantum gate teleportation 10 , measurement-based computing 11 , and port-based teleportation 12 all derive from the basic scheme. The vision of a quantum network 13 draws inspiration from it. Teleportation has also been used as a simple tool for exploring 'extreme' physics,...