Share this Article
You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license.
Researchers have created the heaviest Schrdinger cat to date by putting a crystal in a superposition of two oscillation states.
Even if you are not a quantum physicist, you will most likely have heard of Schrdingers famous cat. Erwin Schrdinger came up with the feline that can be alive and dead at the same time in a thought experiment in 1935. The obvious contradictionafter all, in everyday life we only ever see cats that are either alive or deadhas prompted scientists to try to realize analogous situations in the laboratory. So far, they have managed to do so using, for instance, atoms or molecules in quantum mechanical superposition states of being in two places at the same time.
At ETH Zurich, a team of researchers led by Yiwen Chu, professor at the Laboratory for Solid State Physics, report their findings in the journal Science. The work could lead to more robust quantum bits and shed light on the mystery of why quantum superpositions are not observed in the macroscopic world.
In Schrdingers original thought experiment, a cat is locked up inside a metal box together with a radioactive substance, a Geiger counter, and a flask of poison. In a certain time-framean hour, sayan atom in the substance may or may not decay through a quantum mechanical process with a certain probability, and the decay products might cause the Geiger counter to go off and trigger a mechanism that smashes the flask containing the poison, which would eventually kill the cat.
Since an outside observer cannot know whether an atom has actually decayed, they also dont know whether the cat is alive or deadaccording to quantum mechanics, which governs the decay of the atom, it should be in an alive/dead superposition state.
Of course, in the lab we cant realize such an experiment with an actual cat weighing several kilograms, says Chu. Instead, she and her coworkers managed to create a so-called cat state using an oscillating crystal, which represents the cat, with a superconducting circuit representing the original atom. That circuit is essentially a quantum bit or qubit that can take on the logical states 0 or 1 or a superposition of both states, 0+1.
The link between the qubit and the crystal cat is not a Geiger counter and poison, but rather a layer of piezoelectric material that creates an electric field when the crystal changes shape while oscillating. That electric field can be coupled to the electric field of the qubit, and hence the superposition state of the qubit can be transferred to the crystal.
As a result, the crystal can now oscillate in two directions at the same timeup/down and down/up, for instance. Those two directions represent the alive or dead states of the cat. By putting the two oscillation states of the crystal in a superposition, we have effectively created a Schrdinger cat weighing 16 micrograms, explains Chu. That is roughly the mass of a fine grain of sand and nowhere near that of a cat, but still several billion times heavier than an atom or molecule, making it the fattest quantum cat to date.
In order for the oscillation states to be true cat states, it is important that they be macroscopically distinguishable. This means that the separation of the up and down states should be larger than any thermal or quantum fluctuations of the positions of the atoms inside the crystal. Chu and her colleagues checked this by measuring the spatial separation of the two states using the superconducting qubit. Even though the measured separation was only a billionth of a billionth of a metersmaller than an atom, in factit was large enough to clearly distinguish the states.
In the future, Chu would like to push the mass limits of her crystal cats even further. This is interesting because it will allow us to better understand the reason behind the disappearance of quantum effects in the macroscopic world of real cats, she says. Beyond this rather academic interest, there are also potential applications in quantum technologies.
For instance, quantum information stored in qubits could be made more robust by using cat states made up of a huge number of atoms in a crystal rather than relying on single atoms or ions, as is currently done. Also, the extreme sensitivity of massive objects in superposition states to external noise could be exploited for precise measurements of tiny disturbances such as gravitational waves or for detecting dark matter.
Source: ETH Zurich
Go here to read the rest:
Team creates heaviest Schrdinger's cat yet - Futurity: Research News
- The application of three-axis low energy spectroscopy in quantum physics research - Phys.Org - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- Physicists breed Schrdinger's cats to find boundaries of the | Cosmos - Cosmos - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- Scientists 'BREED' Schrodinger's Cat in massive quantum physics breakthrough - Express.co.uk - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- Quantum Physics: Are Entangled Particles Connected Via An Undetected Dimension? - Forbes - May 3rd, 2017 [May 3rd, 2017]
- Quantum physics is oppressive - Patheos - Patheos (blog) - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- It's widely abused as a buzzword. But can quantum mechanics explain how we think? - National Post - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Quantum Physics and Love are Super Weird and Confusing, but This Play Makes Sense of Them Both - LA Magazine - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- One step closer to the quantum internet by distillation - Phys.Org - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- UW Grad Student from Star Valley Earns Quantum Mechanics Fellowship - SweetwaterNOW.com - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- Solving systems of linear equations with quantum mechanics - Phys.Org - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]
- Quantum Computing Might Be Here Sooner Than You Think ... - Bloomberg - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Quantum Physics News - Phys.org - News and Articles on ... - June 14th, 2017 [June 14th, 2017]
- Chinese satellite breaks a quantum physics record, beams entangled photons from space to Earth - Los Angeles Times - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Popular Quantum Physics Books - Goodreads - June 16th, 2017 [June 16th, 2017]
- Cybersecurity Attacks Are a Global Threat. Chinese Scientists Have the Answer: Quantum Mechanics - Newsweek - June 17th, 2017 [June 17th, 2017]
- A quantum step to a great wall for encryption - The Hindu - June 18th, 2017 [June 18th, 2017]
- What Is Quantum Mechanics? - livescience.com - June 18th, 2017 [June 18th, 2017]
- Physicists Demonstrate Record Breaking Long-Distance Quantum Entanglement in Space - Futurism - June 20th, 2017 [June 20th, 2017]
- Viewpoint: A Roadmap for a Scalable Topological Quantum Computer - Physics - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- How Schrdinger's Cat Helps Explain the New Findings About the Quantum Zeno Effect - Futurism - June 21st, 2017 [June 21st, 2017]
- BMW and Volkswagen Try to Beat Apple and Google at Their Own Game - New York Times - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- How quantum physics could revolutionize casinos and betting if you can understand it - Casinopedia - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- Quantum thermometer or optical refrigerator? - Phys.Org - June 22nd, 2017 [June 22nd, 2017]
- Physicists settle debate over how exotic quantum particles form - Phys.Org - June 23rd, 2017 [June 23rd, 2017]
- In 1928, One Physicist Accidentally Predicted Antimatter - Popular Mechanics - June 23rd, 2017 [June 23rd, 2017]
- Atomic imperfections move quantum communication network closer ... - Phys.Org - June 24th, 2017 [June 24th, 2017]
- DOE Launches Chicago Quantum Exchange - HPCwire (blog) - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- Google to Achieve "Supremacy" in Quantum Computing by the End of 2017 - Big Think - June 26th, 2017 [June 26th, 2017]
- Physicists make quantum leap in understanding life's nanoscale ... - Phys.Org - June 27th, 2017 [June 27th, 2017]
- Berkeley Lab Intern Finds Her Way in Particle Physics - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - June 27th, 2017 [June 27th, 2017]
- Payments Innovation - A Quantum World Of Payments - Finextra (blog) - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- Why can't quantum theory and relativity get along? - Brantford Expositor - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- How quantum trickery can scramble cause and effect - Nature.com - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- Telecommunications, Meet Quantum Physics - Electronics360 - June 30th, 2017 [June 30th, 2017]
- Stephen Colbert Gets a Lesson on Quantum Physics from Brian ... - Patheos (blog) - July 2nd, 2017 [July 2nd, 2017]
- Quantum physics for babies a different bedtime story - CBC.ca - August 24th, 2017 [August 24th, 2017]
- How quantum mechanics can change computing - San Francisco ... - San Francisco Chronicle - August 24th, 2017 [August 24th, 2017]
- Physicists Use Lasers to Set Up First Underwater Quantum Communications Link - Gizmodo - August 24th, 2017 [August 24th, 2017]
- Notable Quotes on Quantum Physics Quantum Enigma - February 15th, 2018 [February 15th, 2018]
- Nothing Is Solid & Everything Is Energy Scientists Explain The World ... - April 11th, 2018 [April 11th, 2018]
- The World Of Quantum Physics: EVERYTHING Is Energy - In5D ... - April 22nd, 2018 [April 22nd, 2018]
- Nothing Is Solid & Everything Is Energy Scientists ... - May 1st, 2018 [May 1st, 2018]
- Black Holes Bolster Case For Quantum Physics' Spooky Action ... - August 29th, 2018 [August 29th, 2018]
- Physics4Kids.com: Modern Physics: Quantum Mechanics - September 29th, 2018 [September 29th, 2018]
- Quantum Theory - Full Documentary HD - November 6th, 2018 [November 6th, 2018]
- Quantum mind - Wikipedia - February 6th, 2019 [February 6th, 2019]
- What is quantum theory? - Definition from WhatIs.com - May 5th, 2019 [May 5th, 2019]
- The Ultimate Mystery? Consciousness May Exist in the Absence of Matter (Weekend Feature) - The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Faculty Opening, Quantum Information and Condensed Matter Experiment - Physics - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Become the physicists the world needs with the help of a physics degree - Study International News - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Imec and NUS working on chip-based quantum cryptography - Optics.org - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Strong LightMatter Coupling in Molecular and Material Engineering - Advanced Science News - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- The key to bigger quantum computers could be to build them like Legos - MIT Technology Review - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Australian universities are accused of trading free speech for cash - The Economist - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- APS Physics Career Center - Physics - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Assistant Professor of Physics, Employment - Physics - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- A new approach to quantum gravity - Tech Explorist - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- A Huge Experiment Has 'Weighed' the Tiny Neutrino, a Particle That Passes Right Through Matter - Gizmodo - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Many Worlds, But Too Much Metaphor - Forbes - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Iran to open 1st quantum physics lab in a year: AEOI head - Mehr News Agency - English Version - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Quantum Computing Breakthrough: New Detection Tool Uncovers Noise That Can Kill Qubits - SciTechDaily - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- A quantum computing startup that spun out of a Harvard lab just came out of stealth mode with $2.7 million in seed funding from investors like Samsung... - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Important Quantum Algorithm May Be a Property of Nature - Technology Networks - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- A New Perspective On Grover's Search Algorithm -- Quantum Physics & DNA - Analytics India Magazine - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Iran to open first quantum physics lab in a year: AEOI head - Quantaneo, the Quantum Computing Source - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Sean Carroll: Universe a 'tiny sliver' of all there is - PBS NewsHour - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- IBM cuts ribbon on quantum computing centre wherein a 53-qubit monster lurks - The Register - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- In 'Something Deeply Hidden,' Sean Carroll Argues There Are Infinite Copies Of You - NPR - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Physicists race to develop room-temperature quantum chips - The Next Web - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- This One Experiment Reveals More About Reality Than Any Quantum Interpretation Ever Will - Forbes - September 19th, 2019 [September 19th, 2019]
- Our world is in need of the Mahatmas teachings: Dalai Lama - Livemint - October 2nd, 2019 [October 2nd, 2019]
- Quantum-inspired Beckman Institute celebration will be anything but small - Central Illinois Buzz - October 2nd, 2019 [October 2nd, 2019]
- Is It a Wave or a Particle? It's Both, Sort Of. - Space.com - October 2nd, 2019 [October 2nd, 2019]
- Princeton announces initiative to propel innovations in quantum science and technology - Quantaneo, the Quantum Computing Source - October 2nd, 2019 [October 2nd, 2019]
- Precision physics with 'tabletop' experiments - Stanford University News - October 2nd, 2019 [October 2nd, 2019]
- Andrea Young uncovers the strange physics of 2-D materials - Science News - October 2nd, 2019 [October 2nd, 2019]
- A Scientific Explainer of What Terrence Howard Was Talking About at the Emmys - VICE - October 2nd, 2019 [October 2nd, 2019]
- China's Silicon Valley aims to become the country's top research center - Abacus - October 16th, 2019 [October 16th, 2019]
- New Quantum-Mechanical Dissipation Mechanism Observed for the First Time - SciTechDaily - October 16th, 2019 [October 16th, 2019]
- Physicists have found quasiparticles that mimic hypothetical dark matter axions - Science News - October 16th, 2019 [October 16th, 2019]