The image above depicts two elementary particles of light—each much smaller than a single atom—in a state of quantum entanglement. When objects are quantum entangled, their quantum states are linked. Measuring the state of one affects the state of the other. It's weird shit—so weird that Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance." The experiments that resulted in this astonishing image demonstrates "a novel technique that allows the visualization of the wave function of two entangled photons, the elementary particles that constitute light, in real-time," according to a University of Ottawa announcement. According to the Canadian researchers and their collaborators at Sapienza University, the new method of measuring quantum states could be used in the development of quantum computers that would be far faster than today's silicon-based systems.
"This method is exponentially faster than previous techniques, requiring only minutes or seconds instead of days," said researcher Alessio D'Errico.
The image, they write in the research paper, was "obtained by a pump beam with the shape of a Ying and Yang symbol."
Here's that research paper, if you dare: "Interferometric imaging of amplitude and phase of spatial biphoton states" (Nature Photonics)
