Physicists at the University of Chicago have created a "quantum flute" that can force particles of light to move in a way that's never been seen before.
The breakthrough could lead to the realization of quantum memories or new forms of error correction in quantum computers, as well as observing quantum phenomena that cannot be seen in nature.
It's an association The lab of Prof. David Schuster works on quantum bits, which are the equivalent of a computer bit, and which can do things that are otherwise impossible. They were using particles of light to work in the microwave spectrum.
A single block of metal is used to make a long cavity that traps microwaves. Like holes in a flute, offset holes are used to make the cavity.
"Just like in the musical instrument," Schuster said, "you can send one or several wavelength of photons across the whole thing, and each wavelength creates a note that can be used to decode quantum information." Researchers can use a master quantum bit to control the notes.
The way the photon behaved was odd.
They pass through each other in nature. Scientists can sometimes prompt two photons to respond to each other.
Schuster said that they do something weirder here. When the total energy in the system reaches a tipping point, all of a sudden, they're all talking to each other.
It's weird to see a cat walking on hind legs in a lab experiment.
Most particle interactions are one-on-one. They are interacting with one or the other if you add a third. This system allows them to interact at the same time.
The scientists could eventually imagine running hundreds or thousands of notes through a single qubit, but they only tested up to five notes at a time. "If you wanted to build a quantum computer with 1,000 bits and you could control all of them through a single bit, that would be incredibly valuable."
Researchers are excited about the behavior. The researchers hope the discovery can be used to model complex physical phenomena that can't be seen on Earth, such as black holes.
Experiments are fun beyond that.
It's normal for quantum interactions to take place over a long period of time. We can see the effect of the interaction as we measure single photons in our notes. It's cool to see a quantum interaction with your eye.
More information: Srivatsan Chakram et al, Seamless High- Q Microwave Cavities for Multimode Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics, Physical Review Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.107701The Multimode photon blockade is part of Nature physics. There is a DOI titled: 10.1038/s41567-022-01 630-y.
Journal information: Physical Review Letters , Nature Physics
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