Miles ahead: China team boosts atom entanglement distance record fourfold

Chinese scientists have achieved a significant breakthrough in quantum entanglement, successfully entangling cold atoms over a distance of 420 kilometers (260 miles). This achievement, published in Physical Review Letters on August 11, more than quadruples previous entanglement distance records. The researchers state this experiment serves as a test bed for studying quantum network applications beyond metropolitan scales. This development is seen as laying the groundwork for the creation of intercity quantum networks. The team, including Pan Jianwei from the University of Science and Technology of China, exceeded the distance where direct transmission faces fundamental physical limits.