Scientists are exploring the strange world of quantum mechanics to create engines that could be more powerful and efficient than the ones we use now.

One of the key features of quantum physics is entanglement, which Albert Einstein once called “spooky action at a distance.”

This weird phenomenon has been proven real and is now being tested in new ways.

Recently, scientists built the first quantum engine, which operates very differently from traditional engines that use heat. Instead, it uses the unique properties of particles called fermions and bosons.

Bosons can clump together, unlike fermions, making them useful in this quantum engine. The engine switches between a fermion gas and a Bose-Einstein condensate (a special state of matter for bosons) to drive tiny pistons.

This initial quantum engine had an efficiency of 25 percent, which is impressive for a first try but still not as good as modern engines. Scientists are now racing to improve this by using quantum entanglement.

Dr. Zhou Fei and his team created a new quantum engine using two calcium ions. These ions were trapped and their level of entanglement could be adjusted to see how it affected the engine.

Their engine worked on a four-stroke cycle, similar to a car engine but on a much smaller scale.

It started with absorbing photons (light particles) from a red laser, then expanded, coupled to a quantum load, and finally compressed.

Fei explained, “Our study’s highlight is the first experimental realization of a quantum engine with entangled characteristics. [It] quantitatively verified that entanglement can serve as a type of ‘fuel’.”

Although entanglement didn’t improve how efficiently the engine converted energy, it did produce more useful energy for the same input.

For now, quantum engines can only work at extremely low temperatures, close to absolute zero.

This limits their use, but they might be handy for quantum computers, which also need very cold environments.

The research was published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

So, while we might not see quantum engines in our cars anytime soon, they could have some cool uses in the future of computing and technology!

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a quantum computer simulation that has “reversed time” and physics may never be the same.