Instead of starting with fragile quantum sources, they begin with bright, classical light, the kind produced by everyday lasers, and use clever photon-counting techniques to reveal hidden quantum behavior inside it.
Their breakthrough, published in Advanced Science, shows how ordinary light can be harnessed to perform robust quantum information processing at room temperature.
Bright classical light contains vast numbers of photons, but the number reaching a detector fluctuates naturally from one measurement to the next.
Each event corresponded to a different multiphoton quantum system hidden within the classical light field.
Instead of fragile, expensive setups, researchers may build robust platforms that exploit the quantum behavior already lurking in ordinary light.