The first ever photograph of quantum entanglement

Physics from the Scottish University of Glasgowreported on the experiment, in which scientists were able to get the first ever photograph of the quantum entanglement of particles. The phenomena by the standards of physics are so strange that even the great scientist of the 20th century, Albert Einstein, called him “a terrible action at a distance”. The achievement of Scottish scientists is very important for the development of new technologies. Why? Let's figure it out.

What is quantum entanglement?

To put it in simple terms, quantumentanglement is a phenomenon in which the state of two or more objects, usually particles, can be interdependent, regardless of their distance from each other. In other words, even if we postpone these particles thousands of kilometers from each other, each of them will change its state in accordance with the change in the state of the other particle. Such particles are called entangled, and the phenomenon itself is called quantum entanglement.

Although the very concept of quantum entanglementproposed at the beginning of the 20th century, Albert Einstein, the mathematical method of proving that particles could be entangled among themselves, was proposed several decades after it by the Irish physicist John Bell. This method is called the Bell's inequality. If these inequalities have no solution in determining quantum entanglement, this proves the existence of entanglement.

How was the first photo of quantum entanglement taken?

Physicists from the Scottish University of Glasgow founda way to visualize these inequalities by obtaining the first photographic evidence of quantum entanglement. To do this, they created a very light-sensitive camera that responds to streams of entangled photons produced by a special light source.

The scheme of the experimental system is as follows: the crystal in the lower left corner creates a beam of pairs of entangled photons, which is then divided into two. One passes through special filters, and then hits the detector. The second beam immediately hits the detector.

Installation creates completely identical in itsproperties of a pair of photons. Then they are separated. One photon passes through filters that change its physical properties (state). Another photon hits immediately on a special detector, bypassing the filters. The photosensitive camera was set up in such a way as to record when both photons changed their physical states, even when separated by distance.

Pairs of entangled photons in which one of them changed its state in accordance with the changing state of another photon

Observations have shown that photons thatpassed through the filters and those that did not pass through them equally change their states. In the course of the experiment, scientists obtained four photos of altered photon states, as well as one image showing pairs of photons in which one photon passed through the filters, the other did not. This observation turned out to be the first visual proof of the quantum entanglement phenomenon.

Why do you need it?

The results of research by Scottish scientists canto push the development of technologies for observing quantum phenomena. The possibility of observing these processes will bring researchers closer to their full understanding and the possibilities of their practical use.

See also: Quantum teleportation: everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask

Concepts of quantum entanglement alreadythey are used, for example, in the development of quantum computers that promise to perform calculations far beyond the capabilities of modern supercomputers. In addition, a full understanding of the processes of quantum entanglement will allow them to be used in the development of quantum encryption technologies, which in turn will significantly improve the level of protection of the transmitted data.

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