“The result is more than the creation of a new quantum state. It is a demonstration of a new method for engineering interactions that were previously out of reach,” said Dr. Oana Băzăvan, lead author from the Department of Physics, University of Oxford.

“The fourth-order quadsqueezing interaction was generated more than 100 times faster than expected using conventional approaches. This makes effects that were previously out of reach accessible in practice,” Băzăvan added.

Physicists have long used a trick called “squeezing” to sharpen the fuzzy measurements of the subatomic world. It is why gravitational-wave detectors, like LIGO, can hear black holes colliding across the universe. But for all its utility, ordinary squeezing is a relatively simple, second-order effect.