Imagine that two people could get linked in such a way that they could influence each other no matter where in the universe they existed. Now scientists find they can entangle mechanical vibrations in this same way, findings that could help enable quantum computers far more powerful than normal computers.
In the bizarre realm of quantum physics, the particles that make up everything can behave in strange ways. For instance, a particle can apparently exist in two or more places at once, and two or more particles can get linked so they stay in sync instantaneously no matter how far apart they are. Einstein derisively called this seemingly impossible connection "spooky action at a distance" — scientists nowadays give it the name quantum entanglement.
Researchers have previously entangled particles such as atoms, electrons and photons. Now scientists have entangled mechanical vibrations within a microscopic drum.
"Entanglement is the distilled essence of the strange behavior associated with quantum mechanics," researcher Tauno Palomaki, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University
of Colorado, told LiveScience. "What is most exciting to me is that we can see this behavior in an object much different than those usually associated with quantum mechanics such as an atom or photon. Our mechanical oscillator is a much more tangible object."