To do this, molecular noise is used to nudge an electron into a superposition of two energy states at the same time. When this electron then absorbs the energy of a photon and is “excited,” it will remain in a superposition of two (now higher) energies at once. Now the probability of the electron falling back to its original state and losing its energy as wasted heat can be reduced, thanks to the quantum coherence of its two energy states—this is similar to the example of the interference pattern produced by the double-slit experiment we described in chapter 4. There, certain positions on the
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