Quantum entanglement breakthrough: New Form of Entanglement Discovered After 20 Years

Exploring the Frontier of Photon Angular Momentum and Quantum Reality

Abstract image of light waves interacting with a reflective surface. Red and white waves, a glowing spiral pattern, and a dark background. — Quantum entanglement of photons in a nanoscale system. Shalom Buberman, Shultzo3d

Quantum entanglement has always felt like something ripped straight from science fiction: two particles, no matter how far apart, are mysteriously linked. Tweak one, and the other reacts instantly — faster than the speed of light, according to Einstein’s theory of relativity. But after decades of exploring the spin, position, and polarization of particles, physicists from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology have unveiled something unprecedented: a completely new type of entanglement based on the total angular momentum of photons.

This Quantum entanglement breakthrough marks the first fundamentally new type of quantum entanglement in over two decades, as confirmed in their paper recently published in Nature Physics (Ruimy, Karnieli, Kaminer, 2025). It opens an exciting new frontier in quantum optics, nano-photonics, and quantum communication technologies.

🌀Quantum Entanglement breakthrough: From Spin to Twists in Light

Traditionally, quantum entanglement has been observed through a particle’s spin, position, momentum, and polarization. But photons — particles of light — carry an extra feature often overlooked: angular momentum, or their ability to “twist” through space.

Angular momentum in photons has two components:

Spin Angular Momentum (SAM): The rotation of the photon’s electric field (linked to polarization).

Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM): A more exotic spiral-like motion of the photon’s wavefront as it moves.

Normally, SAM and OAM are treated separately. But when photons were guided through nanoscale structures, researchers discovered something incredible — these two forms merged, forming a single, unified property: total angular momentum. This new degree of freedom became the carrier of entanglement — something never previously observed.

🔬 The Groundbreaking Experiment

Led by Dr. Ido Kaminer and his team, the Technion researchers sent entangled photons into nanostructures a thousand times smaller than a human hair. Within this confined space, photons interacted intensely with the material. It was in this arena that the researchers observed entanglement via total angular momentum — not via position or spin.

As the photons entered and exited the structure, the team used ultrafast detectors and mapping technologies to track their quantum states. These states didn't match any of the traditional entanglement patterns, confirming a new mode of entanglement had been established — one that merged the spin and orbital components into something singular and profound.

This experimental setup aligns with findings in recent theoretical work by O. Neufeld et al. (2025) and L. Nemirovsky-Levy et al. (2025), which predicted the feasibility of quantum entanglement in confined nanoscale optical systems through total angular momentum.

🧠 Why This Is a Big Deal

This discovery does more than rewrite textbooks; it opens new doors to high-dimensional quantum states and could significantly enhance the information density of quantum systems.

Here’s why this matters:

🔹 More Quantum Channels: Entangling photons via angular momentum allows scientists to encode more information per particle — a big step for quantum communication and encryption.

🔹 Miniaturization: Just like microchips revolutionized electronics, nanophotonic quantum components can create compact and powerful quantum computers and secure communication devices.

🔹 Robustness: This new form of entanglement might be less prone to decoherence, the bane of quantum systems, making it ideal for real-world quantum networks.

🔹 Quantum Control: The merging of SAM and OAM into a single entangled property gives scientists a new handle to control photon behavior, leading to novel optical devices.

🧩 A Puzzle 20 Years in the Making

It has been over two decades since a new entangled property was last identified. The research ties into efforts across the globe to push quantum information science into practical terrain. The work of I. Kaminer’s lab reflects a broader movement in physics: integrating quantum mechanics, nano-engineering, and light-based systems to forge the next generation of technologies.

Supporting studies, such as those by A. Kam et al. (2025) and S. Tsesses et al. (2025), also point toward quantum control through total angular momentum and multi-dimensional entanglement in plasmonic systems, which involve the collective movement of electrons and photons at the nanoscale.

🌐 Toward Real-World Quantum Applications

One direct application of this new entanglement form is in on-chip quantum optical modulators. These devices manage how light signals move across chips, which is crucial for both data centers and quantum internet infrastructure.

Thanks to the tight confinement of photons, their interaction with matter is enhanced, allowing for more responsive, miniaturized, and energy-efficient quantum photonic circuits.

Furthermore, high-dimensional entanglement using angular momentum could make quantum cryptography even more secure, as more complex keys can be generated and shared between parties.

📚 Want to Dive Deeper? Here are the Key Sources:

Ruimy, R., Karnieli, A., Kaminer, I. (2025). Near-field photon entanglement in total angular momentum. Nature Physics. Read Paper (PDF)
Neufeld, O., Tzur, M. E., Kfir, O., Fleischer, A. (2025). Light’s symmetry, asymmetry, and their role in nonlinear optics and ultrafast phenomena. arXiv Preprint. Read PDF
Nemirovsky-Levy, L., Kam, A., Lederman, M. (2025). Nonlinear Nanophotonics for High-Dimensional Quantum States. arXiv Preprint. Read PDF
Kam, A., Tsesses, S., Ilin, Y. et al. (2025). Near-field photon entanglement in total angular momentum. Nature. Read Abstract

🚀 Final Thoughts

The Technion’s discovery is not just a technical achievement — it’s a philosophical leap. It challenges the way we understand light, space, and information. And it brings us one step closer to the quantum future, where the boundaries between physical and digital, wave and particle, real and virtual may blur in exciting, world-changing ways.

So, next time someone says “entangled,” remember: it’s not just about spin anymore — photons now twist their way into quantum history.