Instead of using thermal energy sources like traditional engines, the new engine utilizes a distinct property of quantum mechanics.
As the term “quantum” appears more frequently across nearly every domain of modern technology—from quantum computing to quantum hard drives and quantum internet—scientists are eager to harness the strange properties of quantum mechanics to convert its power into a new type of engine that could replace conventional internal combustion engines.
Although still a nascent technology, this type of engine has already seen various versions. Last year, scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology developed a quantum engine that uses the “quantum nature of particles” to replace the thermal source that powers traditional engines. This engine achieved an efficiency of 25%—not significantly better than current engines but still acceptable for a newly developed technology.
Scientists aim to transform quantum mechanics into a new type of engine to replace conventional internal combustion engines. (Illustrative image).
Recently, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed another method for creating a quantum engine by utilizing another strange property of quantum mechanics: quantum entanglement. This is regarded as the most prominent feature of quantum mechanics—a state that occurs when two quantum particles are in a superposition state, meaning their information is tightly linked, no matter how far apart they may be.
Imagine you and a friend each have one glove from a pair, but you don’t know which one you have. If you open yours and see it’s the left glove, you immediately know your friend has the right glove, even if they are on the other side of the world. This is a simplified metaphor to illustrate the correlation found in quantum entanglement.
The research utilized calcium atoms in an ion trap, and essentially, this engine exploits the thermodynamic process that occurs when particles transition from their initial state to a high-level entangled state. The results of this research were published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
“The highlight of our study is that we have successfully created a quantum engine for the first time with the properties of quantum entanglement,” Zhou Fei, a co-author of the study, stated in the South China Morning Post. “This has quantitatively verified that quantum entanglement can act as a type of ‘fuel’.“
Unlike traditional internal combustion engines that rely on burning processes to generate heat, the quantum engine developed by Chinese scientists uses lasers to convert particles into a quantum state, transforming light into mechanical energy as the particles oscillate.
Interestingly, its operational process resembles that of a conventional four-stroke engine. First, the atoms absorb photons from a red laser. Then they expand, couple with a quantum load, and compress again in preparation for the next cycle.
The “engine” powered by quantum entanglement operates only at temperatures near absolute zero. (Illustrative image).
This new method does not improve conversion efficiency compared to previous quantum engines; however, the research demonstrated that it is still possible to generate useful energy. The research team analyzed over 10,000 experiments using calcium ions and found that higher levels of quantum entanglement resulted in better mechanical efficiency. While conversion efficiency did not improve, mechanical efficiency increased, meaning more useful energy was generated with the same amount of input energy.
Similar to quantum computers, these “engines” powered by quantum entanglement operate only at temperatures close to absolute zero. Nevertheless, further research could potentially enable these engines and batteries to power large-scale quantum computers and circuits. Only time will tell.
The advent of quantum engines marks a significant step forward in harnessing the power of quantum mechanics for practical applications. Although many challenges lie ahead, the potential of this technology is immense, and we hope to soon witness the emergence of powerful quantum engines and devices that could revolutionize how we use and generate energy in the future.
