Scientists have discovered a new mechanism involved in the creation of paired light particles, which could have significant impact on the study of quantum physics.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have shown that when photons – the fundamental particles of light – are created in pairs, they can emerge from different, rather than the same, location.

The ground-breaking research could have significant implications for quantum physics, the theoretical basis of modern physics. Until now, the general assumption was that such photon pairs necessarily originate from single points in space.

Quantum entanglement – when particles are linked so closely that what affects one directly affects the other – is widely used in labs in numerous processes from quantum cryptography to quantum teleportation.

The UEA team were studying a process called spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), in which photon beams are passed through a crystal to generate entangled pairs of photons.

Prof David Andrews in UEA’s