New Quantum Engine Fueled By Ions’ Entanglement
The strange features of quantum substances are being explored in the hope they will lead to engines more powerful and efficient than their classical counterparts. There’s still a lot we don’t understand about how the various aspects of quantum physics can help and hinder machines. A new exploration of one of quantum physics’ most distinctive features, entanglement, shows it can help boost the useful energy produced by an engine, but not the energy conversion efficiency.Like many aspects of quantum mechanics, entanglement makes little sense to humans raised in a classical world. Einstein famously mocked it as “spooky action at a distance” – yet, eventually, the evidence for its existence became too powerful to be ignored. In the last two decades, physicists have had increasing success at entangling larger numbers of subatomic particles over increasing distances.
