Photon interaction breakthrough
Photon interaction breakthrough
by DEBORAH GRACE
November 3, 2014 Science
Secure transmission of data is possible by the use of
quantum information networks and optical logic gates. This is made possible by
photon-photon interactions. A photon is an elementary particle, which exhibits
the properties of both waves and particles. Up until now, non-linear media
(meaning that the information can be accessed or written in no particular
order) has been used.
Photons generally do not interact with each other in free
space but instead one passes through the other with no effect to either one.
Vienna University of Technology researchers have made a significant and
groundbreaking discovery in the field of quantum mechanics. A team of
researchers has developed some unique hardware, which enable photons to
interact. This hardware is composed of micro-thin fiber made of glass, which in
turn attached to a device called a resonator.
The photon particle light can enter the resonator, moves
in a circular fashion and then returns to the glass fiber. This change in
pathways causes a phase inversion of 180 degrees. The researchers then attached
a rubidium atom to the resonator preventing light from entering the resonator
thereby preventing the oscillation phase of the proton from changing.
“It is like a pendulum, which should actually swing to
the left, but due to coupling with a second pendulum, it swings to the right.
There cannot be more extreme change in the pendulum’s condition”, said
Professor Arno Rauschenbeutel, of Institute of Atomic and Subatomic Physics, TU
Wien.
With fiber optics already in use today, the
implementation of glass resonators will be compatible with many technological
systems.
This incredible breakthrough with photon interaction in
quantum mechanics brings with it unprecedented applications in quantum optic
technology, quantum teleportation and quantum computing.
The breakthrough research is published in the journal
‘Nature Photonics’.
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