Browse Physics

Optical experiments let researchers fully characterize the quantum transformations corresponding to photon creation and annihilation operators.

Laser light scattered from a single atom undergoes large optical phase shifts that may be useful in imaging and quantum information transmission.

A quantum twist on digital holography offers improved imaging and the chance to reach new and difficult wavelength regions.

Researchers measure the complex “shape” of individual photons, which could lead to new ways of encoding information.

A semiconductor chip that generates entangled photon pairs is friendlier to integration with other chip-based quantum components than any previous device.

Quantum interference of pairs of photons emitted by nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond paves the way for entanglement of distant qubits.

Theory shows that three-level atoms can overcome intrinsic problems with two-level systems in controlling the flow of photons.

A Fabry-Pérot cavity exhibits the same behavior when an atom replaces a mirror.

By applying environmental noise to a photon detector, researchers have identified the boundary where the device switches from a quantum device to a classical one.

Observations of single photons traveling through cold atomic gases confirm that information can only travel as fast as the speed of light.

Quick detection of photogenerated electrons in a quantum dot may lead to a better method to transfer quantum information between optical and electrical media.

Entanglement, a crucial resource in quantum information theory, can also improve communication over a classical channel.

Nonclassical light may provide a more efficient readout mechanism than its classical counterpart in the regime of few photons.

A new plasmonic route to long-distance entanglement is proposed.

Elastic scattering may be a larger source of qubit error than previously thought.

Networks of photonic devices with broken time-reversal symmetry may provide a way to create a quantum simulator to study strongly correlated systems.

Vibrations of the atoms in a molecule are used to implement a Fourier transform orders of magnitude faster than possible with devices based on conventional electronics.

A trick for modulating optical frequency combs will enable more flexible control over trapped-ion qubits.

Signal amplification in an optical interferometer may push the sensitivity of measurements beyond the standard quantum limit.

A method called quantum smoothing has been experimentally shown to provide a mean-square measurement error that is a factor of 2 smaller than the quantum limit.