Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Quantum mechanics

Entanglement goes mechanical

Nature volume 459, pages 653–654 (2009)Cite this article

A neat experiment shows that the mechanical vibration of two ion pairs separated by a few hundred micrometres is entangled — their motions are intrinsically and inseparably connected in a quantum way.

For almost a century, physicists have had in hand 'the' theoretical framework of the known world — quantum mechanics. But whereas the world clearly comprises large complex systems, quantum mechanics is usually associated with the microworld of atoms and elementary particles, and is hardly ever considered as an underlying feature in our daily life. This is even more pronounced for some of the seemingly weird predictions of quantum mechanics, such as entanglement, which asserts that the quantum state of physically separated objects is mutually and inextricably connected.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Jost, J. D. et al. Nature 459, 683–685 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Schrödinger, E. Naturwissenschaften 23, 807–812; 823–828; 844–849 (1935).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Nature Insight on Quantum Coherence Nature 453, 1003–1049 (2008).

  4. Häffner, H. et al. Nature 438, 643–646 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Kippenberg, T. & Vahala, K. Science 321, 1172–1176 (2008).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rainer Blatt is at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck, and the Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck A-6020, Austria. rainer.blatt@oeaw.ac.at ,

    Rainer Blatt

Authors
  1. Rainer Blatt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Blatt, R. Entanglement goes mechanical. Nature 459, 653–654 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/459653a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/459653a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing