Using a light pulse, researchers sync up phases in quantum states of roughly a million rubidium atoms, thus demonstrating quantum synchronization for the first time.
Systems that exhibit synchronization are ubiquitous in nature, from swarms of fireflies flashing in unison to pendulum clocks ticking together when hung from a shared beam. Now for the first time, researchers have observed the phenomenon at the quantum level. Their method of making quantum states pulse to a shared rhythm could, they say, be leveraged to synchronize remote nodes in a quantum communication network.