Latest news with #quantumentanglement
Yahoo
04-08-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
This Quantum Entanglement Trick Has Physicists Losing Their Minds
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: Creating quantum entanglement from scratch can be tricky business, so researchers are exploring ways that entangled pairs can 'share' these states amongst themselves. A new study shows how an entangled pair can pass on their entangled state to another pair by using particle interactions. Theoretically, this sharing could be done indefinitely, but eventually, not enough entanglement is shared to be particularly useful. Superposition and entanglement together form the foundation of quantum computing. The former describes how qubits—the building blocks of quantum computers—can be in multiple states (in this case, 0 or 1) until measured, and the latter links qubits together so that they share the same fate, no matter the distance between them. Being able to form entanglement between particles is crucial, as this is what allows the separate qubits to function as a system. Creating entangled pairs is an inherently fragile process, so scientists from the Harish-Chandra Research Institute in India and the Université libre de Bruxelles in Belgium wondered if there was another way to create entangled pairs rather than just from scratch. In a study published in the journal Physical Review A, the researchers walk through how an entangled qubit pair named Alice and Bob (the common couple name used for quantum thought experiments) can actually share their entangled state with a second quantum pair (named Charu and Debu). In fact, the entangled state can be transferred to an indefinite number of quantum pairs. 'We find joint unitaries which, when applied by Alice and a Charu, and by Bob and the corresponding Debu, can transfer entanglement from the Alice-Bob pair to an indefinite number of pairs of Charus and Debus,' the authors wrote. 'Given the valuable role played by the costly resource, entanglement, in quantum information processing and communication, we expect that our results will have significant impact in quantum technologies.' This means that while Charu and Debu can't form an entangled pair on their own, they can tap into the same 'entanglement bank' with particles that communicated with the other entangled pair—Alice to Charu, and Bob to Debu. 'We thought of a scenario where someone, like money or sweets, has a lot of it and is willing to share it with children or subordinates or just some others,' Harish-Chandra Research Institute's Ujjwal Sen told New Scientist. This metaphor is an apt one, as the original entangled pair isn't keen to give away all of its 'sweets'—or, in this case, its entangled state. When entanglement passes to Charu and Debu, the pair receives a slightly smaller amount. This means that while this entanglement sharing could theoretically go on forever, it does eventually stop, because the amount of entanglement is no longer useful. While quantum computers have made slow-yet-steady progress in the last decade, their computational promise still remains out of reach—largely due to the finicky nature of qubits, as noise (thermal or otherwise) causes them to decohere. Any process that can increase methods of entanglement, which can improve a quantum computer's error correction, is a welcomed one. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life? Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A Quantum Battery Has Outperformed a Classical One for the First Time Ever
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: For more than a decade, scientists have been investigating ways to develop a 'quantum battery' that stores energy using photons rather than electrons or ions. While quantum batteries—thanks to properties like superabsorption and quantum entanglement—could theoretically charge more quickly than their classical counterparts, there's been little evidence to show this sort of 'quantum advantage.' In a new study, scientists have developed a model battery that reaches the known quantum speed limit and provides a measurable advantage over classical batteries, but building such a device remains remarkably complicated. Over the last few decades, it seems that every classical piece of technology has gotten a quantum counterpart. Of course, people spend the most time and resources trying to develop quantum computers, but there's also advancements in things like the quantum internet, quantum cryptography, and yes, quantum AI. However, one of these technologies that doesn't get much time in the spotlight is quantum batteries. As their name suggests, quantum batteries store energy using photons—particles of light and the carrier for the electromagnetic force—rather than electrons or ions, as is the case with classical electrochemical batteries. But since their introduction in 2012, scientists have yet to convincingly establish the technology's 'quantum advantage'—does a quantum battery really surpass the function and capability of regular, old classical batteries? Quantum batteries do have a few unique tricks up their sleeves, however. Due to attributes such as quantum entanglement and superabsorption—where the rate of absorption of light increases with the number of molecules—quantum batteries could charge much quicker than even the very best classical batteries. And now, a new study shows the first evidence of quantum advantage in this new type of battery. In an article published in the journal Physical Review Letters, scientists from the PSL Research University in Paris and the University of Pisa describe how they developed a simple quantum battery model at a microscopic scale. So, no—this one won't be charging your iPhone anytime soon. But this battery does provide a major boost for efforts to develop these potentially game-changing pieces of tech. 'Our model consists of two coupled harmonic oscillators: one acts as the 'charger,' and the other serves as the 'battery,'' the authors told 'The key ingredient enabling the quantum advantage is an anharmonic interaction between the two oscillators during the charging process. This anharmonic coupling allows the system to access non-classical, entangled states […] enabling faster energy transfer than in classical dynamics.' The researchers also showed that the battery could theoretically reach the quantum speed limit (QSL), which is the maximum rate of change in a quantum system. This would definitely exceed the performance of classical batteries. This isn't the first theoretical model of a quantum battery. Last year, a group of researchers developed a model quantum battery the size of an atom that also used intermediate cavities to avoid 'decoherence,' which is the process through which a system loses its quantum properties. But both of these examples are just theoretical models—building such a device that's practical is something else entirely. It's for this reason that researchers believe quantum batteries are still pretty far removed from everyday applications. The authors of this new paper say that their battery would need to be built using superconducting circuits, which experience zero electrical resistance at near-absolute zero temperatures. 'To the best of our knowledge, this work provides the first rigorous certification of a genuine quantum advantage in a solvable model,' the authors told 'We hope that our work will stimulate further research on this exciting topic, fostering progress on both the theoretical and experimental fronts.' You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
