Noteworthy Step Forward In Quantum Manipulation And Control Of Light

Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – At the quantum level, light remains difficult to control for engineering purposes.

“If we’re able to control photon fluctuations and associated noise,” Omar Magaña-Loaiza,  assistant professor in the LSU Department of Physics & Astronomy, said in a press release.

“Then, we can make more precise measurements. This technology is new and will change our field.”

Magaña-Loaizaand his team made a noteworthy step forward in the quantum manipulation and control of light, which has far-reaching quantum technology applications in imaging, simulation, metrology, computation, communication, and cryptography, among other areas.

The team successfully demonstrated a method to generate groups of photons with these same powerful properties — known as multiphoton states. The researchers can also generate multiple kinds of light with manipulable quantum states in one single setup.

Physicists all over the world are racing to develop techniques to preserve light’s quantum properties at large enough scales for practical purposes.

“By subtracting out some photons we can reshape the form of the wavepacket and artificially increase the number of photons in it,” Magaña-Loaiza said.

Moreover, whereas previous scientists produced multiphoton states using multiple sources, Magaña-Loaiza’s team managed to build a single source to produce multiphoton packets that share similarities with entangled lasers: a major technological achievement.

“I really think we’re doing something new, and I think people are starting to recognize this,” he said.

In addition to generating single photons, they can also produce entangled laser light and entangled natural light (i.e., sunlight) with desired properties.

“If you’re able to manipulate light at this fundamental level you can engineer light,” he said.

Paper

Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff