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Quantum engineering

Squeezing entanglement

Nature volume 409, pages 27–28 (2001)Cite this article

Quantum entanglement between two particles is a spooky connection that means measuring one has an instant effect on the other. Connecting many atoms in this way would be the first step towards a quantum computer.

If a street magician with two identical coins told you he could predict which way up your coin would land — heads or tails — simply by tossing his coin first, you probably wouldn't believe him. But what if he told you that, because of the laws of physics, your toss had to turn out the same as his toss? Not convinced, you try it and find that, yes, it is true. And it remains true, time after time, toss after toss. By some mechanism, there is a surprising correlation between the behaviour of the two coins. What's going on? Well, it could be that these two coins have somehow been prepared in a remarkable quantum state known as an entangled state. On page 63 of this issue Sørensen et al.1 provide physicists with an exciting new recipe for creating such entangled states from an unusual sample of atoms known as a Bose–Einstein condensate.

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Figure 1: Putting the squeeze on spin.

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  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, PO Box 270171 , Rochester, 14627, New York, USA

    Nick Bigelow

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  1. Nick Bigelow
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Correspondence to Nick Bigelow.

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Bigelow, N. Squeezing entanglement. Nature 409, 27–28 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35051193

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