Entanglement between superconducting qubits and a tardigrade

Understand

Quantum and biological systems are seldom discussed together as they seemingly demand opposing conditions.

• Life is complex, "hot and wet" whereas quantum objects are small, cold and well controlled.
• Here, we overcome this barrier with a tardigrade -- a microscopic multicellular organism known to tolerate extreme physiochemical conditions via a latent state of life known as cryptobiosis.
• We observe coupling between the animal in cryptobiosis and a superconducting quantum bit and prepare a highly entangled state between this combined system and another qubit.