Chinese scientists harness power of ‘entanglement’ to fuel quantum engine
- Breakthrough study is the first experimental realisation of a quantum engine with ‘entangled characteristics’, researchers said
- The technology uses the mysterious phenomenon that allows a pair of separated light particles to remain intimately linked, regardless of the distance between the
The researchers, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Innovation Academy of Precision Measurement Science and technology, said the breakthrough shows that quantum engines can use their own entangled states as a form of fuel.
“Our study’s highlight is the first experimental realisation of a quantum engine with entangled characteristics. [It] quantitatively verified that entanglement can serve as a type of ‘fuel’,” said Zhou Fei, one of the corresponding authors, on Monday.
Unlike traditional engines that operate on thermal combustion, a quantum engine uses lasers to transition the particles between quantum states, converting light into kinetic energy.
Zhou, along with fellow corresponding author Feng Mang and the rest of the team, showed that the entanglement phenomenon increases the output efficiency of quantum engines, according to the study, published on April 30 by the journal Physical Review Letters.
Quantum engines could theoretically surpass the limits of classical thermodynamics, potentially achieving energy conversion efficiencies of more than 25 per cent – enough to power large-scale quantum computers and circuits.
