Researchers have pulled off a quantum feat that defies traditional expectations they’ve created Schrödinger cat states not from ultra-cold ground states, but from warm, thermally excited ones.
Using a superconducting qubit setup, the team demonstrated that quantum superpositions can exist even at higher temperatures, overturning the long-held belief that heat destroys quantum effects. This breakthrough not only validates Schrödinger’s original “hot cat” concept but also paves the way for more practical and accessible quantum technologies.
Schrödinger’s Cat and Hot Quantum States
Schrödinger cat states are a remarkable feature of quantum physics, where a quantum system can exist in two opposing states at once. The concept comes from Erwin Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment, in which a cat is imagined to be both alive and dead simultaneously. In real-world experiments, similar quantum superpositions have been observed not with actual cats, but in things like the positions of atoms and molecules, or the vibrations of electromagnetic resonators.
Until now, these kinds of superpositions were typically created by first cooling the quantum system to its ground state, its lowest possible energy level. But in a new breakthrough, researchers led by Gerhard Kirchmair and Oriol Romero-Isart have shown it’s possible to create Schrödinger cat states even when the system starts out thermally excited, or “hot.”
“Schrödinger also assumed a living, i.e. ‘hot’ cat in his thought experiment,” remarks Gerhard Kirchmair from the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck and the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW). “We wanted to know whether these quantum effects can also be generated if we don’t start from the ‘cold’ ground state,” says Kirchmair.
Creating Quantum Superpositions at Higher Temperatures
In their study, published today (April 4) in Science Advances, the team used a transmon qubit inside a microwave resonator to create the cat states. Remarkably, they succeeded at temperatures up to 1.8 Kelvin, around 60 times hotter than the resonator’s usual environment.
“Our results show that it is possible to generate highly mixed quantum states with distinct quantum properties,” explains Ian Yang, who performed the experiments reported in the study.
Adapting Protocols to Generate Hot Cat States
The researchers used two special protocols to create the hot Schrödinger cat states. These protocols were previously used to produce cat states starting from the ground state of the system. “It turned out that adapted protocols also work at higher temperatures, generating distinct quantum interferences,” says Oriol Romero-Isart, until recently Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Innsbruck and research group leader at IQOQI Innsbruck and since 2024 Director of ICFO – the Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona.
“This opens up new opportunities for the creation and use of quantum superpositions, for example in nanomechanical oscillators, for which achieving the ground state can be technically challenging.”
Defying Expectations About Temperature and Quantum Interference
“Many of our colleagues were surprised when we first told them about our results, because we usually think of temperature as something that destroys quantum effects,” adds Thomas Agrenius, who helped develop the theoretical understanding of the experiment. “Our measurements confirm that quantum interference can persist even at high temperature.”
Implications for Future Quantum Technologies
These research findings could benefit the development of quantum technologies. “Our work reveals that it is possible to observe and use quantum phenomena even in less ideal, warmer environments,” emphasizes Gerhard Kirchmair. “If we can create the necessary interactions in a system, the temperature ultimately doesn’t matter.”
Website: International Research Awards on High Energy Physics and Computational Science.
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