Scientists at the University of Chicago have created a "quantum flute" that, like the Pied Piper, can force light particles to interact in ways that have never been observed before.
The discovery, which was described in two studies published in Physical Review Letters and Nature Physics, may pave the way for the development of quantum memories, novel error-correcting techniques for quantum computers, and the observation of quantum phenomena that are not visible in the natural world.
The research team of Associate Professor David Schuster focuses on quantum bits, which can perform tasks that are otherwise impossible by taking advantage of the peculiar characteristics of atomic and subatomic particles. In this experiment, photons from the microwave spectrum were the light particles used.
They created a method that uses a lengthy hollow carved out of a single piece of metal to trap photons at microwave frequencies. To create the hollow, offset holes that resemble flute holes are drilled.
Like a musical instrument, you can send one or more photon wavelengths across the entire device, and each wavelength produces a "note" that can be used to encode quantum information, according to Schuster. Using a master quantum bit, a superconducting electrical circuit, the researchers can then regulate how the "notes" interact with one another.
But the strangest thing they found was how the photons interacted.
Photons barely ever interact in the natural world; they mostly just flow through one another. It is sometimes possible for scientists to carefully prepare two photons such that they respond to one another.
Schuster remarked, "We do something even stranger here. The photons initially don't communicate at all, but when the system's total energy hits a critical level, all of a sudden, they start communicating with one another.
It is incredibly unusual to watch so many photons "talking" to one another in a lab experiment, similar to seeing a cat stand on its hind legs.
According to Schuster, most particle interactions often include just two particles bouncing or being attracted to one another. "Even if you add a third, they usually still interact one after the other in a sequential fashion. However, they are all interacting simultaneously in this system."
The scientists may someday envision controlling them by running hundreds or thousands of notes through a single qubit, even though their trials only tested up to five "notes" at once. In order to simplify as much of a complicated operation as a quantum computer as possible, engineers According to Schuster, it would be extremely beneficial to be able to control all 1,000 bits of a quantum computer with just one bit.
The conduct itself excites the researchers as well. The researchers also hope the discovery can be helpful for replicating complex scientific events that can't even be seen here on Earth, including perhaps even some of the physics of black holes, as no one has ever observed anything like these interactions in nature.
The experiments are just enjoyable on top of that.
"Normally, quantum interactions occur on time and length scales that are either too small or too fast to observe. We may measure a single photon in any of our notes in our system and observe the outcome of the interaction as it takes place. To'see' a quantum interaction with your eye is incredibly interesting "Srivatsan Chakram, a former postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago who is now an assistant professor at Rutgers University, is the paper's co-first author.
Kevin, a graduate student He was the other paper's initial author. Graduate students Akash Dixit and Andrew Oriani, former University of Chicago students Ravi K. Naik (now at UC Berkeley) and Nelson Leung (now with Radix Trading), postdoctoral researcher Wen-Long Ma (now with the Institute of Semiconductors at the Chinese Academy of Sciences), Professor Liang Jiang of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and guest researcher Hyeokshin Kwon of the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in South Korea were also co-author
The James Franck Institute and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering both have Schuster among its members. The devices were created by the researchers at the University of Chicago's Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility.
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July 20, 2022
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