The year of quantum is playing host to a vast number of new quantum research papers and slowly they are filling the void of what is known, and what might prove useful to our future.
Physicists have for the first time seen entanglement of the “total angular momentum” of light particles in nanoscale structures. The discovery may have implications for next-generation quantum communication and computing components.
Quantum entanglement is an effect where entangled particles can communicate and share a single quantum state instantly no matter how far apart they are. It is an integral part of quantum communication through so-called “quantum teleportation” where quantum information can be transmitted instantly between devices.
Photons – particles of light – have been shown to exhibit quantum entanglement in a number of different ways. Physicists have entangled photons where they have shared direction of travel, colour and electric field direction.
But the new research, published in Nature, is the first time that photons’ total angular momentum is entangled.
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