Entangled photons beat noise through teamwork

Published in Nature, 5 Apr 2013

Technologies that rely on ‘quantum-weirdness’ phenomena, such as electrons being in two places at the same time, are inherently delicate: the smallest disruption can make such uncertain states ‘collapse’ into well-defined outcomes. Now, however, physicists have shown that quantum effects do not always succumb entirely to disruptions — at least not those from electromagnetic noise.

Their technique, called quantum illumination, could enable schemes based on quantum effects to work in much noisier environments than they can now. It could even make quantum physics useful in applications such as radar, which now relies on classical physics. […]

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