2000 Schrodinger's Cats Broke The Record For Quantum Superposition

kralizec (70)in #science • 5 years ago

Physicists managed to get specially created molecules made from 2000 atoms into a quantum superposition. They kept them in superposition for 7 milliseconds bringing the mysterious world quantum mechanics closer to our world.

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All around us we have the macroscopic world which we know pretty well. The macroscopic world is ruled by general relativity. But the microscopic world is the place where quantum mechanics take over and our normal day experience means nothing there. Particles can be at many places at the same time, they can entangle and do other weird quantum things.

But right now, we don't know where the borders between the two worlds lie. And as it tends to be, physicists are trying to figure this mystery out. Now Marus Arndt from the Universität Wien and his coworkers managed to put massive molecules that had more than 2000 atoms into a quantum superposition. The record so far was only about 800 atoms.

Their experiment was something like an advanced version of the famous two-slit experiment that Thomas Young used to prove that light is not only matter but also a wave. This experiment also showcases quantum superposition as individual photons pass through the slits in multiple ways at the same time making them be at multiple places at the same time. Yet, the most famous experiment that uses quantum superposition is Schrodinger's Cat. The Schrodinger's Cat is in its box both alive and dead at the same time. At least until someone looks inside the box and the superposition collapses into one of the two possibilities.

And as it seems, quantum superposition only functions in the quantum world. The larger the object the harder it is to get into a quantum superposition. And in an upgraded version of the two-slit experiment, they managed to put the largest molecules ever into quantum superposition. But they weren't just any molecules but specially designed to be big yet still stable enough so they can pass through the twin-slit in a vacuum. The researchers even had to develop a completely new interferometer just to get the results of the experiment.

In the end, hard work paid off. The two molecules with 2000 atoms were in quantum superposition and kept them there for 7 milliseconds.

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