Researchers were able to create an entanglement of 103 dimensions using only two photons; the previous record was at only 11 dimensions.
The finding could lead to quantum computers with much higher processing speeds and with an advanced encryption of information, a Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona news release reported.
"The states in which elementary particles, such as photons, can be found have properties which are beyond common sense," the news release reported.
The particles are capable of "superpositions" (being in two places at once); when two particles are "entangled" they are able to influence each other's spins no matter how far apart they are.
Researchers have been looking at both of these properties to construct " networks of entangled particles in a state of superposition," the news release reported. This could allow scientists to create quantum computers that operate at breakneck speeds and store encrypted information with impressive security.
In the past researchers have worked to increase the number of entangled particles (each in a state of superposition) in order to increase the network's "computing capacity." Through this approach researchers have been successful in entangling up to 14 particles. The researchers have now reached 103 dimensions using only two particles.
"We have two Schrödinger cats which could be alive, dead, or in 101 other states simultaneously", Marcus Huber, researcher from the Group of Quantum Information and Quantum Phenomena from the UAB Department of Physics, said in the news release. "plus, they are entangled in such a way that what happens to one immediately affects the other."
The new approach broke the record of only 11 dimensions using two particles.
Instead of entangling a large number of particles with qubit of information each, the researchers generated only two particles that could be in one hundred states (or in any superposition of these states). This proved to be much easier than entangling many particles.
"This high dimension quantum entanglement offers great potential for quantum information applications. In cryptography, for example, our method would allow us to maintain the security of the information in realistic situations, with noise and interference. In addition, the discovery could facilitate the experimental development of quantum computers, since this would be an easier way of obtaining high dimensions of entanglement with few particles," Huber said.
