in this world It appears that another record of quantum physics has been broken. one in paper Listed on preprint site ArXiv, researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China claim to have observed atoms in a state of quantum superposition for 23 minutes. They argue that being able to keep quantum states stable for such long periods of time could help make quantum devices more durable and discover strange new effects in quantum physics.
Superposition is a phenomenon where an object has the ability to occupy multiple different positions at a given moment, but the actual state of the object is unknown. Very small objects, such as photons or electrons, exhibit this behavior; They behave like waves, potentially occupying multiple states at any one time, rather than like particles with a single state. Importantly, when an object is viewed in superposition, its state is collapsed and it is seen in only one of its possible positions. you can think like this a coin is being tossed-When hovering in the air, it may possibly have both heads or tails at the same time, but when you see it after landing, it may have only one or the other.
You may also have heard of superposition explained using Schrödinger's famous cat paradox. It was a thought experiment proposed by physicist Erwin Schrödinger, in which a cat is placed in a sealed box with radioactive material that will randomly decay, which, when it does, kills the cat. Until you open the box, the experiment suggests that the cat is in superposition, simultaneously alive and dead. Although commonly used to explain superposition, Schrödinger's experiment was intended to show the seeming absurdity of this quantum behavior.
Over the years, researchers have been able to catch tiny objects exhibiting superposition, with particles of light and even tiny crystals shown in the laboratory occupying multiple states at the same time. But the objects in these experiments were always very unstable, and their demonstrations of superposition extremely fleeting. However in the new study, Chinese researchers led by physicist Zheng-Tian Lu have used light-trapping atoms to observe this phenomenon.
The researchers used about 10,000 ytterbium atoms, which they cooled to a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero and trapped with the electromagnetic forces of laser light. Under these conditions, the quantum states of atoms can be controlled very precisely, and researchers took advantage of this to put each atom in a superposition of two concurrent states, each with two very different spins.
Normally, disturbances from the atoms' environment would cause them to collapse into a single state within seconds or milliseconds, but researchers were able to precisely tune the lasers to maintain them for an unprecedented period of 1,400 seconds, or 23 minutes. Were capable of. However, it is important to note that the work has not yet been formally independently reviewed.
Because it extends superposition over such a long period of time, such a technique, if it proves possible, could be used in the future to detect and study magnetic forces, investigate new and exotic effects in physics, or even Could also be used to allow very stable quantum computer memories. ,
This story was originally published on wired italia And it has been translated from Italian.