Latest Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics Stories

In future, optical fibers could connect all optical atomic clocks within Europe – a milestone for various users of optical frequencies in research and industry Optical atomic clocks measure time with unprecedented accuracy. However, it is the ability to compare clocks with one another that makes them applicable for high-precision tests in fundamental theory, from cosmology all the way to quantum physics. A clock comparison, i.e. a comparison of their optical frequencies, proved to be...

Brett Smith for Redorbit.com Quantum physicists have made a leap forward in subatomic particle communication by connecting two separate labs 21-meters apart using two atoms and a photon, according to a report published in the April 12 issue of Nature. A group from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) in Garching, Germany said they have demonstrated the ability to construct a basic two-node network that could be expanded because of its high efficiency and fidelity. “This...

A powerful quantum computer could be designed with an incredibly tiny memory A data memory can hardly be any smaller: researchers working with Gerhard Rempe at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching have stored quantum information in a single atom. The researchers wrote the quantum state of single photons, i.e. particles of light, into a rubidium atom and read it out again after a certain storage time. This technique can be used in principle to design powerful quantum...

An international team of scientists led by groups from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) in Garching, Germany, and from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley has used ultrashort flashes of laser light to directly observe the movement of an atom's outer electrons for the first time.Through a process called attosecond absorption spectroscopy, researchers were able to time the oscillations between...

An international team measures the charge radius of the hydrogen nucleus and stumbles across some mysteries of physicsBig problems sometimes come in small packages. The problem with which physicists must now concern themselves measures a mere 0.0350 millionth of a millionth of a millimeter. This is precisely the difference between the new, smaller, dimension of the proton, the nucleus of the hydrogen atom, and the value which has been assumed so far. Instead of 0.8768 femtometers it measures...

Contrary to previous assumptions, electrons are catapulted out of an atom during photoemission with a delayWhen physicists search for new semiconductors for chips or lasers, they have been able to rely on sophisticated computer programs - until now. However, it is possible that the models these programs have used to predict the electronic properties of a material oversimplify reality. An international team that includes researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics has now...

A sensitive measuring device must not be dropped - because this usually destroys the precision of the instrument. A team of researchers including scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics has done exactly this, however. And the researchers want to use this experience to make the measuring instrument even more sensitive. The team, headed by physicists from the University of Hanover, dropped a piece of apparatus, in which they generated a weightless Bose-Einstein condensate...

MPQ-LMU scientists demonstrate for the first time exotic multiparticle interactions between ultracold atoms in an artificial crystal of lightAt extremely low temperatures atoms can aggregate into so-called Bose Einstein conden-sates forming coherent laser-like matter waves. Due to interactions between the atoms fundamental quantum dynamics emerge and give rise to periodic collapses and revivals of the matter wave field. A group of scientists led by Professor Immanuel Bloch (Chair of...

The weird world of quantum mechanics describes the strange, often contradictory, behaviour of small inanimate objects such as atoms. Researchers have now started looking for ways to detect quantum properties in more complex and larger entities, possibly even living organisms.A German-Spanish research group, split between the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), is using the principles of an iconic quantum mechanics thought...

Developing a precise ruler for the futureAstronomical instruments needed to answer crucial questions, such as the search for Earth-like planets or the way the Universe expands, have come a step closer with the first demonstration at the telescope of a new calibration system for precise spectrographs. The method uses a Nobel Prize-winning technology called a 'laser frequency comb', and is published in this week's issue of Science."It looks as if we are on the way to fulfill one of...