A team of researchers at University of Rochester has come up with a way by which a 27-dimensional quantum state can be measured without disrupting the wave function.

The researchers have challenged one of the main beliefs of quantum mechanics that it is not possible to measure the state without hampering the wave function.

While revealing the details, the researchers were of the view that they have based their study on the work carried out at the National Research Council of Canada in 2011.

The researchers said they have used light beam’s orbital angular momentum state. By the term orbital angular momentum (OAM) state the researchers refer to twistedness of the beam.

As of now, the OAM is present in the quantum state, which makes it possible to have states in superposition and that too simultaneously. The traditional view that quantum state cannot be measured without destroying the wave function was mentioned in a popular experiment called Schrödinger’s cat in 1935 by physcicist Erwin Schrödinger.

In it, the researcher said the cat can either be viewed alive or dead and not both. But in the recent experiment, measurement was made possible and that too without collapsing.