by Playfuls Staff |
20th September 2006
Austrian scientists say they've used quantum entanglement to measure the transition between two atomic [more] states - the basis of an "atomic clock."
Christian F. Roos and colleagues at the Austrian Academy of Sciences say two entangled, intimately linked states in separate ions are designed to create a system resistant to the measurement "noise" created by the buffetings of the environment.
Previous transition measurements were made on atomic states in one ion; entangling states in separate ions has already been shown to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of such measurements. But the new approach, said Roos, also improves such measurements' quality, canceling technical noise from the laser and magnetic fields required for the experiment.
Roos and colleagues use a pair of trapped entangled calcium ions positioned a few micrometers apart in space. That non-locality means the ions experience slightly different magnetic field values.
Taking account of this effect allows impressively precise measurement of the electric quadrupole moment between two states, said Roos, and paves the way for precision measurement in other atomic systems.
The research is explained in the current issue of the journal Nature.
© 2006 UPI
