Scientists Unlock 37 Hidden Dimensions Inside a Single Photon
Quantum mechanics just got a lot stranger. An international team of scientists has created a photon that exists in 37 dimensions simultaneously. For context, humans experience just three spatial dimensions. We add time as a fourth. These photons, however, require 37 reference points to describe them fully.
Pushing Quantum Physics to Its Limits
The researchers wanted to see how “un-classical” light could really behave. They published their findings in the journal Science Advances. The team used a concept called the Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) paradox. This paradox shows that quantum theory cannot be explained by local, realistic descriptions. In fact, the math can get so strange that 1 can sometimes equal -1. By feeding this paradox into coherent light, they manipulated photons to achieve the most nonclassical effects ever created.
What Does 37 Dimensions Actually Mean?
Don’t imagine parallel universes or traveling through portals. Instead, think of dimensions as coordinates needed to describe the photon’s state. “We are still only seeing the tip of the iceberg,” said Zhenghao Liu, a co-author from the Technical University of Denmark. The experiment shows that quantum physics is far more complex than many scientists assumed.
Why This Discovery Matters
This isn’t just a theoretical stunt. High-dimensional systems like this could revolutionize quantum technology. The authors hope their findings will build stronger quantum advantages in computing and communication. More dimensions mean more data capacity. Therefore, photons could potentially carry vastly more information than previously possible.
In short, we’ve only scratched the surface of what light can do. The quantum rabbit hole, it seems, goes much deeper than we imagined.
