Category Physics

Artist’s representation of Faraon’s quantum memory device. Credit: Ella Maru Studio

Smallest-yet optical quantum memory device is a storage medium for optical quantum networks with the potential to be scaled up for commercial use. For the first time, an international team led by engineers at Caltech has developed a computer chip with nanoscale optical quantum memory. Quantum memory stores information on individual quantum particles – in this case, photons of light.

This allows it to take advantage of the peculiar features of quantum mechanics (such as superposition, in which a quantum element can exist in two distinct states simultaneously) to store data more efficiently and securely...

A property of NV centers in diamond is that the states of their electron spins can be determined from the photons they emit. Placing a system of this kind between two mirrors can considerably improve the rate and yield of emitted photons. As a result, key conditions are met for using NV centers in quantum technology applications. Credit: University of Basel, Department of Physics

Scientists have succeeded in dramatically improving the quality of individual photons generated by a quantum system and have put a 10-year-old theoretical prediction into practice. They have taken an important step towards future applications in quantum information technology. For a number of years, scientists have been working on using electron spins to store and process information...

Schematic of a quantum network: single photons transmit quantum information between the network nodes, where they are stored in an atomic gas. (Illustration: University of Basel, Department of Physics)

Physicists from the University of Basel have developed a memory that can store photons. These quantum particles travel at the speed of light and are thus suitable for high-speed data transfer. The researchers were able to store them in an atomic vapor and read them out again later without altering their quantum mechanical properties too much. This memory technology is simple and fast and it could find application in a future quantum Internet.

Even today, fast data transfer in telecommunication networks employs short light pulses...

In a so-called target chamber, the light pulse of the high-performance laser DRACO hits a gas-jet. The aim is to accelerate electrons to almost the speed of light on a distance shorter than a pencil’s width. Credit: HZDR / F. Bierstedt

Optimum conditions for Laser Plasma acceleration. Conventional electron accelerators have become an indispensable tool in modern research. The extremely bright radiation generated by synchrotrons, or free electron lasers, provides us with unique insights into matter at the atomic level. But even the smallest versions of these super microscopes are the size of a soccer field. Laser plasma acceleration could offer an alternative: with a much smaller footprint and much higher peak currents it could be the basis for the next generation of compact light sources...