Entanglement, Coherence and Decoherence

Entanglement: In the simplest terms, quantum entanglement means that aspects of one particle of an entangled pair depend on aspects of the other particle, no matter how far apart they are or what lies between them. In another way, objects can be correlated over large distances in ways that physics before quantum mechanics can not explain. Coherence: Quantum coherence is a property of quantum systems that refers to their ability to maintain a stable phase relationship between different quantum states. Maintaining quantum coherence is critical for quantum computing to reach its full potential. In this chapter we use these concepts to understand an aspect of the photosynthesis process.