Entanglement is the strange quantum phenomenon in which two particles are so deeply linked that they share the same existence, even though they might be separated by huge distances. In the language of quantum mechanics, both particles are described by a single wave function.
Entanglement makes possible all kinds of exotic phenomena that cannot occur in the ordinary, non-quantum world. Physicists regularly use entanglement to teleport particles from one part of the universe to another, without travelling through the intervening space. They also use entanglement to send secret messages that cannot be cracked. And entanglement is a crucial ingredient in quantum computing and a quantum interent.
Indeed, many physicists believe entanglement to be so important that it is likely to become a valuable resource that is bought and sold over future networks, like quantum gold.
So the ability to distribute entangled particles of long distances is increasingly valuable. In this blog, we have followed various teams as they raced to break various distance records for phenomena that depend on entanglement. Last year, for example, a Chinese team claimed the distance record for teleporting photons over a distance of 97 kilometre only to find a European team smash the record just a few months later.
Today, a Japanese team goes even further. Takahiro Inagaki and a few pals at the NTT Basic Research Laboratories in Kanagawa say they’ve distributed entangled photons over a distance of 300 kilometres. “This experimental result for entanglement distribution over 300 km of optical fiber illustrates the potential for fiber experiments related to long-distance quantum communication,” they say.
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