Quantum entanglement defies weightlessness

Experiments in weightlessness The ÖAW and TU Vienna were able to show during a parabolic flight: A change in gravity has no influence on quantum experiments . A team from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Vienna University of Technology was able to prove this during a flight with the European Space Agency: Quantum entanglement also works when the strength of gravity changes. Their quantum system was built so robustly that even changing gravity and vibrations during the flight had no effect on quantum entanglement. The results are an important starting point for future experiments at the interface between quantum physics and general relativity. During a parabolic flight, the occupants of an airplane experience alternating phases in which they are exposed to increased G-forces and weightlessness, or more precisely microgravity. Researchers from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and TU Vienna have taken advantage of this to test the influence of these alternating forces on a quantum system of entangled photons. They carried out their experiment on board an aircraft from Novespace, which performed a parabolic flight from Bordeaux in France on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA).