Quantum physicists at ANU have observed atoms entangled in motion. “It’s really weird for us to think that this is how the universe works,” says Dr. Sean Hodgman from the ANU Research School of Physics. “You can read about it in a textbook, but it’s really weird to think that a particle can be in two places at once.”

Their experiment using helium atoms represents a major advancement over similar experiments using photons, which are particles of light. Unlike photons, helium atoms have mass and experience gravity. The research is published in Nature Communications.

“Experimentally, it’s extremely hard to demonstrate this,” says lead author and Ph.D. researcher, Yogesh Sridhar. “Several people have tried in the past to show these effects, and they have always come short.”