04/26/2026
Physicists just achieved quantum entanglement between fundamentally different types of particles — a photon and a phonon — demonstrating that quantum correlations can exist across different physical substrates, not just identical particles of the same type.
A team from the California Institute of Technology used a piezoelectric optomechanical crystal to generate entanglement between a single optical photon — a quantum of light — and a single phonon — a quantum of mechanical vibration — within the same crystal at 10 millikelvin. Bell inequality violation measured 2.44 — well above the classical limit of 2.0 — confirming genuine quantum entanglement between the two fundamentally different quantum excitations. The photon and phonon share quantum correlations despite being entirely different physical phenomena — one electromagnetic and one mechanical.
Cross-species quantum entanglement enables quantum transduction — converting quantum information between different physical systems — which is essential for connecting quantum computers based on different technologies into unified networks. A photon-phonon transducer converts between microwave quantum processors and optical quantum communication channels — the missing link enabling all-quantum computing networks.
Source: California Institute of Technology Painter Group, Science, 2024