Previously, only smaller light particles had been superposed and the group has also proved a quantum physics theory known as Schrödinger's cat.

This theory, named after an Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, proposed that a large object such as a cat could be simultaneously alive and dead.

Researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) and University of Paris South have published the latest breakthrough in the international journalNature. UQ Centre for Quantum Computer Technology researcher Dr. Hyunseok Jeong devised the scheme to generate and superpose the beams which was tested and proved by his French collaborators.

Dr. Jeong said his group used special lasers, crystals, photon detectors, half-mirrors and other optical devices to generate and measure the superposition of light beams.

"It has been known to be extremely hard to generate Schrödinger cat states, particularly with traveling light", Dr. Jeong stated. "Even though one could generate such Schrodinger cat states, it would be extremely hard to observe them because in a very short time, they would be reduced to either alive or dead states.”