MANY MINDEDA two-decade-old entanglement prediction gets an experimental proof
Physicists at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria and the Technical University of Munich have experimentally confirmed a quantum entanglement theory proposed about 20 years ago. The work, with Alejandro Andrés-Juanes as first author and Johannes Fink as senior author, was published in Physical Review X.
The method uses a 'quantum bath' of light particles, subjecting two qubits to low-energy microwaves to create autonomous, stationary entanglement that requires no active control or measurement. In the experiment the qubits were separated by 50 centimeters of cable, and the team verified their synchronization using microwave pulses lasting billionths of a second. In principle the approach could work over arbitrary distances.
Quantum computing is part of the knowledge infrastructure that could eventually make certain kinds of computation cheap and abundant. A way to hold entanglement without constant intervention would reduce the overhead that active-control schemes demand — potentially simplifying how future quantum machines are built and linked.
The honest caveats are significant. This is a proof-of-concept prototype that currently transfers only about 10% of the bath's available entanglement, and previous active-control approaches remain more efficient. Whether quantum computing reaches broad availability, and what it means for ordinary users, remains uncertain. What to watch is whether the efficiency can be pushed higher and the distance extended in follow-up work.
Source: ScienceAlert