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Quantum physics

Atomic doughnuts from single photons

Nature volume 519, pages 420–421 (2015)Cite this article

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Analysis of the interaction between a photon and an ensemble of some 3,000 atoms trapped between two mirrors has revealed a form of multi-atom quantum entanglement that has no counterpart in classical mechanics. See Letter p.439

What is the most that could happen when you analyse a single particle of light after sending it through a few thousand atoms? On page 439 of this issue, McConnell et al.1 demonstrate that the single photon creates a special quantum link between nearly all of the atoms, a link known as entanglement. The authors show that the particular 'flavour' of entanglement observed has no classical analogue — a first for such a large collection of atoms. Extending our ability to create entanglement in large systems may one day allow highly precise measurements of time, fields and accelerations, lead to new materials, and enhance our understanding of the transition from the quantum to the classical world.

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Figure 1: Creating highly shared entanglement.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. James K. Thompson is at JILA and in the Department of Physics, University of Colorado, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.,

    James K. Thompson

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  1. James K. Thompson
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Correspondence to James K. Thompson.

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Thompson, J. Atomic doughnuts from single photons. Nature 519, 420–421 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/519420b

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