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Physics

Record-breaking entanglement

X.-L. Wang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. (2016)  Complex system of crystals and light splitters produced 10-photon entanglementX.-L. Wang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. (2016) 

An experiment headed by physicist Jian-Wei Pan of the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei has increased the record for the number of entangled photons from 8 to 10 (Physical Review Letters, November 15, 2016). The Chinese team created five pairs of entangled light particles with the help of a laser source capable of generating batches of photons at a rate 100 times faster than normal, using a complex system of crystals and polarized light splitters. Entanglement is a quantum state in which two particles are so closely linked that any change in one particle is also reflected in the properties of the other. The effect, which is important in the evolving field of quantum computing—and was predicted by Albert Einstein in the 1930s—occurs regardless of the physical distance between the particles.

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