Entanglement is the strange quantum phenomenon in which objects become so closely linked that they share the same existence. In the language of physics, they are described by the same wavefunction.
Entangling things isn't so difficult really. Most interactions involve entanglement of one sort or another.
The trouble is pinning it down. Entanglement is a fragile and fleeting phenomenon. Blink and it leaks into the environment. That's why it's so difficult to preserve, to observe and ultimately so difficult for physicists to play with.
In recent years, physicists have learnt how to entangle all kinds of objects in pairs--photons, electrons, atoms and so on. In 1999, they created a qutrit by entangling three photons. Last year, they even entangled 6 photons.
Today, however, Xing-Can Yao and buddies at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, say they've smashed this record by entangling 8 photons, then manipulating and observing them all simultaneously.
To read the rest of the article, click here.