Quantum Squeezing of Molecules Improves Sensor Accuracy Threefold ⚡ экспресс
Harnessing dipolar interactions between CaF molecules in an optical tweezer array, researchers have for the first time created spin-squeezed states—a special kind of quantum entanglement that boosts measurement precision. The metrological gain reached up to 3 dB (roughly doubling sensitivity). Through Floquet engineering (tuning parameters with periodic modulation), they extended correlations without destroying the squeezing, and transferring to long-lived states preserved the enhancement for 100 ms. It's like tuning a set of metronomes to tick in unison, hushing random noise—now this trick works for molecular systems.
Any measuring device is spoiled by quantum noise—the chaotic jitters of elementary particles. To tame it, physicists used a trick on calcium fluoride molecules, much like squeezing a balloon: press in one spot, and it bulges in another. The idea is the same: quantum uncertainty is driven into a parameter that doesn't matter for the measurement, while the quantity of interest becomes three times more precise.
The molecules were held in traps made of laser light, made to spin in unison like tiny tops. Using laser pulses and clever light control, scientists built up their entanglement—the very phenomenon Einstein called 'spooky'. Remarkably, the squeezed state was written onto the molecule's internal rotation, where it lasted 100 milliseconds. It's like putting a quantum 'secret' into a safe. Now such molecular sensors can search for dark matter, test laws beyond known physics, and pick up gravitational waves.
🎯 Until now, quantum squeezing had only been achieved with single atoms or ions; molecules—much more complex objects—have been used for the first time.