Quantum entanglement confirmed for the first time with light from quasars

20-08-2018 | View press release

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With the William Herschel Telescope, quantum physicists of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) caught the light of a quasar several billion light-years away. The telescope is located on the Canary Island of La Palma.
© Max Alexander, Photo courtesy of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, La Palma
A source of entangled photons sends light particles to receiver stations from a mobile quantum physical laboratory on La Palma at night. The measurement of the entangled photons was controlled by the light of distant quasars which was captured by the William Herschel Telescope and the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo.
© Massimo Cecconi
One of the two mobile receiver station units for entangled photons, which was operated by the quantum physicists of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) on La Palma for measuring quantum entanglement.
© Dominik Rauch/OeAW

The mobile laboratory of the quantum physicists of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) on La Palma equipped with the source for entangled photons next to the Nordic Optical Telescope.
© Dominik Rauch/OeAW
The William Herschel Telescope on La Palma from the perspective of the source for entangled photons at the Nordic Optical Telescope by day.
© Dominik Rauch/OeAW
The Telescopio Nazionale Galileo on La Palma is next to the William Herschel Telescope and was used by the quantum physicists of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) to perform a "Cosmic Bell Test". The container in the foreground contains a receiver station for entangled photons.
© Dominik Rauch/OeAW
Sunset over the William Herschel Telescope on La Palma with the stars of the Milky Way. However, the light captured by the telescope for the experiment of the quantum physicists of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) came from far outside our solar system.
© Nik Szymanek, Ian King, Photo courtesy of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, La Palma