A team of Australian and French scientists have proven the well known quantum physics theory known as Schrödinger's cat by successfully superposing light beams producing a state that appears to be both on and off at once, according to a letter in the journal Nature.
Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment in quantum physics, in which an atomic decay triggers the death of the cat, but as quantum physics allow atoms to remain in superpositions of states, the classical cat would then be simultaneously dead and alive.
Researchers from The University of Queensland and University of Paris South demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally, a protocol that allows the generation of arbitrarily large squeezed Schrödinger cat states, using homodyne detection and photon number states as resources.
So far scientists have only managed to superpose smaller light particles, but the latest break through paves the way for the next generation computers and teleportation, the team reported
Photons that are simultaneously on and off are vital for the next-generation super computers which should be faster than current computers based on bits, that are either on or off, the researchers claimed.
UQ Centre for Quantum Computer Technology researcher Dr Hyunseok Jeong implemented this protocol with light pulses containing two photons, producing a squeezed Schrödinger cat state with a negative Wigner function.
Dr Jeong said his group used special lasers, crystals, photon detectors, half-mirrors and other optical devices to generate and measure the superposition of light beams.
They proved that this state clearly exhibits several quantum phase-space interference fringes between the 'dead' and 'alive' components, and is large enough to become useful for quantum information processing and experimental tests of quantum theory.
“It has been known to be extremely hard to generate Schrödinger cat states, particularly with traveling light,” Dr Jeong said. “Even though one could generate such Schrodinger cat states, it would be extremely hard to observe them because in a very short time, they would be reduced to either alive or dead states.”
He said his group's research findings would help speed up the development of quantum information technologies such as quantum computers, quantum cryptography and quantum teleportation.
“Using Schrödinger cat states, quantum teleportation may be performed with nearly 100 percent success probability,” he concluded.
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