Spooky quantum entanglement goes big in new experiments
Two teams entangled the motions of two types of small, jiggling devices
DRUMMING UP ENTANGLEMENT Two teams of scientists demonstrated quantum linkages between two specially designed jiggling structures: drumheadlike objects (illustrated) and silicon beams (not shown).
Petja Hyttinen/Aalto University, Olli Hanhirova/ARKH Architects
Quantum entanglement has left the realm of the utterly minuscule, and crossed over to the just plain small. Two teams of researchers report that they have generated ethereal quantum linkages, or entanglement, between pairs of jiggling objects visible with a magnifying glass or even the naked eye — if you have keen vision.
Physicist Mika Sillanpää and colleagues entangled the motion of two vibrating aluminum sheets, each 15 micrometers in diameter — a few times the thickness of spider silk. And physicist Sungkun Hong and colleagues performed a similar feat with 15-micrometer-long beams made of silicon, which expand and contract in width in a section of the beam. Both teams report their results in the April 26 Nature.
“It’s a first demonstration of entanglement over these artificial mechanical systems
