Madrid, 24 (Europe Press)
The research provides a sophisticated understanding of a complex phenomenon that is fundamental to quantum computing, a method that can perform certain computational operations more efficiently than conventional computing.
explains Dries Sales, associate professor in the NYU Department of Physics and author of the research, which was published in a statement in the journal Nature Physics. “This work reconstructs the entire state of quantum fluid, according to predictions of quantum field theory, similar to those that describe the fundamental particles of our universe.”
Sels adds that the breakthrough offers promise for technological advancement.
“Quantum computing relies on being able to generate entanglement between different subsystems, and that’s exactly what we can test with our method,” he says. “The ability to do such precise characterization could also lead to better quantum sensors, which is another area of application of quantum technologies.”
The research team, which included scientists from the University of Technology Vienna, ETH Zurich, the Free University of Berlin and the Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics, undertook a tomography of the quantum system: a specific quantum state reconstruction with the aim of looking for experimental evidence of the theory.
The studied quantum system consists of very cold, slow-moving atoms that facilitate motion analysis because of their near-zero temperature, and they are confined to an atomic chip.
In their work, the scientists created two “versions” of this quantum system: cigar-shaped clouds of atoms that evolve over time without affecting each other. At various stages in this process, the team conducted a series of experiments that revealed the link between the two versions.
“By building a complete history of these correlations, we can infer what the initial quantum state of the system is and extract its properties,” explains Sales. “Initially, we have a very tightly bound quantum fluid, which we split in two to evolve as two independent fluids, and then recombine to detect waves in the fluid.
“It’s like looking at the ripples in a pond after a rock has been thrown and deducing the rock’s properties, such as its size, shape, and weight.”