Can our eye catch spooky quantum images?

(LiveScience) Quantum physics deals with the realm of the very small, and most of us never expect to see the weird world it describes. But could we? Recently, scientist Geraldo Barbosa of Northwestern University designed an experiment to answer that question.
The quantum effect Barbosa is hoping to see is called quantum entanglement, in which two or more particles can become "entangled" so that even after they are separated in space, when an action is performed on one particle, the other particle responds immediately.

A common experiment illustrating entanglement is to fire a laser at a special type of crystal. Occasionally a photon particle from the laser "splits" into two. The energy and momentum of the two new photons each add up to the value of the one originally fired.

These two "daughter" photons are entangled — if you look at the state of one photon, you know the state of the other, instantly. Einstein described this eerie connection as "spooky action at a distance."


Next, the physicists change the form of the laser beam in the experiment to create an image. They have found that the image isn't visible unless two detectors are able to "see" the photons at the same time.

While these physics experiments rely on detectors to "see" the photons and the resulting images, Barbosa foresees setting up an experiment in which a person's retinas would act as the detectors.