Quantum superposition - biggest breakthrough in quantum physics

Quantum superposition - biggest breakthrough in quantum physics:

OMG!!! It's a huge deal, scientists from the university of Vienna, in collaboration with researchers from the university of Basel proved that quantum superposition is also possible at molecular level.


Quantum superposition means a particle can present at two different places simultaneously. Yupp!! you read it right and this has been proven earlier that a particle can exist at two different places simultaneously. Earlier experiments included small single particles like electrons,photons or single atoms. But this time scientists have managed to do the same experiment with a molecule of 20000 atoms, which is massive...


Reality of this quantum phenomenon 

We all know that all particles or group of particles also possess wave like characteristics, and waves can exist in multiple places in space at once. So any piece of matter can also exist in two places at once. 

Scientists have been doing this with the all time greatest experiment- ''The Double Slit Experiment''.



Traditionally, it involved projecting  particles of photons through two slits. If the photons acted simply as particles, the resulting projection of light on the other side would simply show one band. But in reality, the light projected on the other side shows an interference pattern, which proves that light particles can also act as waves.

The same experiment was done with electrons and single atoms and guess what? The results were same.. 
It seems to be like the particles are in two places at once, just like Schrödinger's cat. But as most of us are aware, the cat is only in two states while it remains unobserved. As soon as the box is opened, it's either confirmed as being alive or dead, not both.

It's the same with other particles too. As soon as the particles are measured or observed directly, this superposition disappears and the state of the particle is locked in. This is one of the weirdest phenomenon in quantum mechanics.

What's new in this experiment:

The molecules, which are used in this experiment have huge masses( up to 25000 atomic mass unit) . The name of the molecule is "Oligo-tetraphenylporphyrins", which are enriched with fluoroalkylsulfanyl chains. A previous record for this kind of experiment involved molecules up to 800 atoms in size, but this time the molecules contain 2000 atoms. 

As we know when molecules get bigger and bigger, they also become more instable. Due to their instability, the scientists were only able to get them interfering for only seven milliseconds at a time.

Marcel Mayor and his team from the University of Basel uses  special techniques for the synthesis of massive molecules that were sufficiently stable to form a molecular beam in ultra-high vacuum. For confirming the quantum nature of the particles, a matter-wave interferometer was used that had a two-meter long baseline, which are designed for measuring atoms along different paths.

Future potential of quantum superposition:

This phenomena could be used in quantum computing, which might double the speed of quantum computing as the same particles will present in two different places at the same time.

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