Scientists from the Joint Laboratory of Optics, a workplace of Palacký University Olomouc and the Institute of Physics at the Czech Academy of Sciences, are the first in the world to experimentally confirm the relation between the quantum state of uncertainty and quantum entanglement, theoretically predicted by physicists from Japan and Taiwan. The result of this scientific work, published in the prestigious journal Springer Nature, introduces a completely new perspective on the previously unknown implications of how nature functions at the quantum level.
“In quantum physics, there are very peculiar rules according to which, say, a measurement will affect the measured state and the result of a measurement can be random. So we never know in advance how our measurements will turn out. On the other hand, we do know that there is a phenomenon that is crucial for a number of applications in quantum physics, and that is quantum entanglement. Now what we have been able to discover is a fairly fundamental relation between the uncertainty inherent in quantum measurement and quantum entanglement. We have literally found an equation, or rather an inequality, that reveals a relation between these two fundamental concepts in quantum physics,” said Karel Lemr of the Joint Laboratory of Optics.
An experiment was carried out in the Olomouc laboratory in which physicists prepared special quantum entangled states of light. Using photon pairs, they created states upon which they then made measurements. The outcomes confirmed the validity of the theoretically predicted inequality.
“We have found and confirmed a new law of quantum physics. We have been able to validate the theoretical framework experimentally, which is a significant advance in fundamental research. It helps us better understand how the world around us works at the quantum level," added Antonín Černoch, who collaborated on the experiment.
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