Skip to content
Foundations · minutephysics

The No Cloning Theorem

Original upload · 10:04

YouTube is paused

Allow video players in your privacy choices to connect to YouTube. The provider receives connection information when loaded.

How this works

Why can’t a quantum state simply be copied like a computer file? minutephysics uses Schrödinger’s cat to introduce the no-cloning theorem and the reasoning behind it. The creator’s explanation connects linear quantum transformations with the impossibility of perfectly copying an arbitrary unknown state. This 2016 explainer is a useful starting point before quantum teleportation: the two ideas describe different operations, so the ability to transfer a state does not provide a universal quantum photocopier.

Video by minutephysics. Added to QubitWire .

Watch on YouTube · More recently added videos