Two photon hanging out in free space want nothing to do with each other : Waves of light simply pass through each other without either one have an force on the other . Now , researcher have found a way to spark a strong fundamental interaction between two single photon by using an ultra tiny fiber of deoxyephedrine . Thefindingswere bring out inNature Photonicsthis calendar week .
For many applications in quantum technology , the fundamental interaction between photons is a important prerequisite : from transport information through tap - proof quantum channel to building visible radiation - transistors for quantum computing , maybe even quantum teleportation . “ In rescript to have light interact with visible radiation , one ordinarily uses so - call nonlinear media,”saysArno Rauschenbeutel of TU Wien , the Vienna University of Technology . Light touch certain properties of these material , which in turn influences the light , extend to an indirect coupling between photon . This only works at gamy lite intensities involving unnumberable photons .
So , a trio of TU Wien researchers set about building a system that creates a strong fundamental interaction between only two photons . In fact , they created an interaction that ’s so solid , the stage of the photons is exchange by 180 degrees . “ It is like a pendulum , which should in reality get around to the left-hand , but due to pair with a second pendulum , it is swinging to the right hand . There can not be a more extreme alteration in the pendulum ’s oscillation , ” Rauschenbeutel explains in anews release . “ We attain the strongest potential interaction with the modest possible vividness of light . ”
The photons were sent on a journeying through an radical - thin glass fiber that ’s pair to a lilliputian bottle - like opthalmic cavity resonator ( project above ) . When light enters the resonator , it moves in circles , then returns to the glass fibre . This roundabout way through the resonator inverts the phase of the photon : A crest appear in the moving ridge where a till would normally be expected . Pictured here , lighting running around a bottle - mould glass fiber that ’s about half as thick as a human hair .
However , when a single rubidium atom is coupled to the resonator , hardly any light will enter the resonating chamber anymore and the oscillation phase of the photon remains unaltered . Because the particle is an absorber that can be saturate , when two photons get in at the same time , one of them is absorbed by the atom for a short while , then released again into the resonator ; but in that meter , it ca n’t engross any other photons . “ Only one can be absorbed , while the other can still be form shifted,”Rauschenbeutel explain . Two simultaneous photon that interact terminate up showing a completely different behavior than unmarried photons .
The result is “ a maximally entangled photon state,”he tot , which is needed for every line of business of quantum optics . Another advangage is that the technique uses Methedrine fibre technology , which is already being used for optical communication anyway .
Images : TU Wien
