News Physics

Entangled photons make better messengers

Quantum communication gets a boost from a six-pack of light

By Lisa Grossman

- More than 2 years ago

To send a quantum message, it helps to have a photon six-pack.

SPOOKY LIGHT Using a laser (shown), physicists at Stockholm University in Sweden have produced six photons bound in a quantum state that could enable safe transmission of information over long distances. Courtesy of Magnus Rådmark/Stockholm University

When bound together by a process called quantum entanglement, a set of six photons can withstand the hard knocks that ordinarily would erase quantum information, researchers have shown.