Latest Photon Stories

Showcasing new tools for widespread development of quantum circuits made of mechanical parts, scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a flexible, broadly usable technique for steadily calming the vibrations of an engineered mechanical object down to the quantum "ground state," the lowest possible energy level.Described in a Nature paper posted online July 6, the NIST experiments nearly stop the beating motion of a microscopic...

By swapping one superconducting material for another, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have found a practical way to boost the efficiency of the world's fastest single-photon detector, while also extending light sensitivity to longer wavelengths. The new tungsten-silicon alloy could make the ultrafast detectors more practical for use in quantum communications and computing systems, experiments testing the nature of reality, and emerging applications...

In quantum physics there are two classes of fundamental particles. Photons, the quanta of light, are bosons, while the protons and neutrons that make up atomic nuclei belong to the fermions. Bosons and fermions differ in their behavior at a very basic level. This difference is expressed in their quantum statistics. In the 1980s a third species of fundamental particle was postulated, which was dubbed the anyon. In their quantum statistics, anyons interpolate between bosons and...

Researchers have changed one of the most basic rules of quantum mechanics: observing light behaving as both a wave and a particle -- a "complementarity" rule that asserts that it is impossible to do, even though it is strictly both.In an experiment reported in the journal Science, researchers say the feat "pulls back the veil" on quantum reality in a way that was thought to be prohibited by theory.Quantum mechanics, a counterintuitive branch of physics that deals with atomic-scale...

Quantum mechanics is famous for saying that a tree falling in a forest when there's no one there doesn't make a sound. Quantum mechanics also says that if anyone is listening, it interferes with and changes the tree. And so the famous paradox: how can we know reality if we cannot measure it without distorting it?An international team of researchers, led by University of Toronto physicist Aephraim Steinberg of the Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control, have found a way to do just...

Photon Control Inc. ("Photon Control") (TSX-V: PHO), a leading developer of innovative measurement technologies, is pleased to announce the launch of a new product; The Downhole Pressure and Temperature Sensor (DHPTS) is specifically designed to meet the demanding needs of the Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) process required to efficiently extract the bitumen from oil sands projects. Burnaby, BC (PRWEB) May 26, 2011 Major Oil and Gas companies are investing significant...

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have demonstrated a new technology for graphene that could break the current speed limits in digital communications.The team of researchers, led by UC Berkeley engineering professor Xiang Zhang, built a tiny optical device that uses graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of crystallized carbon, to switch light on and off. This switching ability is the fundamental characteristic of a network modulator, which controls the speed at which data...

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...

By Roland Michel Tremblay (rm@themarginal.com)Interstellar space-travel and near-instant communication; discovering a network of intelligent extraterrestrial signals; harnessing the mysterious instantaneous quantum-entanglement effect. These are all either science fiction or things we will probably never live to see or understand, correct? Not at all. By the end of this article you will see how clarifying a simple but extremely fundamental misunderstanding in our science legacy makes all of...

Mercury's Exosphere: A Brief OverviewOne of the primary science goals of MESSENGER is to study Mercury's very thin atmosphere, or exosphere. Although observations of the exosphere from orbit have begun, these data must be carefully calibrated, and analysis is still underway. In the meantime, here is a primer on Mercury's exosphere: what it is, how we observe it, and why it is important.What Is Mercury's Exosphere?Mercury's atmosphere is so tenuous that the atoms or molecules comprising it are...