QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT – WHAT A POWERFUL KNOT!

Forget Quantum-Enabled Solutions. It's time to think of Quantum-Enhanced Innovations. And of the second Quantum revolution. Let's get this cat out of the bag or, shall we say, the proverbial box

- Pratima Harigunani

What would the first programmable quantum sensor translate into? Recently, researchers at the University of Innsbruck, Austria designed the first programmable quantum sensor, and tested it in the laboratory. They applied techniques from quantum information processing to a measurement problem. It is a leap that promises quantum sensors whose precision can inch very close to the limit set by the laws of nature. While it has been perceived that atomic clocks could run even more accurately by exploiting quantum mechanical entanglement, there seems to be a void when it comes to realizing robust entanglement for such applications. Is this where tailor-made entanglement can be precisely tuned to real-world requirements? What big leap does the research done by Peter Zoller’s group (at the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Innsbruck) give a nudge for? What else can these research initiatives do to leverage the potential of quantum sensors? Dr. Christian Marciniak, Department of Experimental Physics, University of Innsbruck helps us to unlock some questions around these emerging, but powerful, species called Quantum Sensors.

Tell us something about 'quantum entanglement' as a concept. How best can it be exploited for real-world applications? Any scenarios where it would work well?

Entanglement is a property that quantum systems can exhibit. Mass is also a property of quantum systems (as well as classical). What I can say is that, entanglement does not have a classical analogue and it is far more elusive in as much that it is only emergent as an observable property in well-controlled environments. Entanglement is, however, ubiquitous (just like mass is), though not every occurrence is what we would call useful.