Emily Chan
Some events happen too fast to be captured in a photograph, no matter how quickly you hit the camera button.
For example, certain quantum events are considered to be instantaneous, so they’re hard to observe. But now, it has become possible to watch such occurrences unfold in slow motion.
A team of researchers has created computer simulations capable of tracking quantum events that take place in mere attoseconds, which are billionths of a billionth of a second.
“You could say that the particles have no individual properties, they only have common properties. From a mathematical point of view, they belong firmly together, even if they are in two completely different places,” said Joachim Burgdörfer from the Vienna University of Technology.
The research team consists of scientists from Austria and China. They used powerful ultraviolet laser pulses and infrared light to assess electron behavior when they’re torn from helium atoms, revealing the birth of quantum entanglement, one of nature’s fastest moments.
When one electron is hit with just the right amount of intense light, it will get torn away from the atom while another electron remains behind but jumps to a higher state of energy.
As a result, the two electrons become quantum entangled, and one cannot be described without the other.
The researchers also used computer simulations to track the quantum effect between the escaping electron and the remaining one. The technique is referred to as “attosecond streaking,” and it works like a super accurate stopwatch.
They discovered that the birth time of the electron that flies away is technically unknown. It simultaneously exists in a quantum state where it departs at both an earlier and later time—on average, about 232 attoseconds apart.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
