In quantum physics, two particles are always connected to each other no matter how far apart they are. The other measurement is always given. A new approach to generating a light source made up of entangled photons has been proposed by researchers. They published their findings in physical review research.
The team proposed a way to generate entangled photons at the extreme-ultra violet wavelength. Their work shows how to generate entangled photons and use them to track the dynamics of electrons in materials on incredibly short timescales.
Niranjan Shivaram is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy. They are useful to measure ultrafast events. The limits of measurement of the shortest time scale phenomena can be pushed by attosecond metry. This source of entangled photons can be used in both quantum and X-ray techniques, where they have been shown to enhance the ability to get information.
The authors of the publication, titled "Attosecond entangled photons from two- photon decay of metastable atoms: A source for attosecond experiments and beyond," are all from the department of physics and astronomy at the university. Dr. Yimeng Wang and Dr. Shivaram are both recent graduates of the university.
Shivaram says that the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue brings together experts in various subfields of AMO. Chris Greene's knowledge of theoretical atomic physics and Niranjan's background in experimental attosecond science led to this collaborative project. Many universities have AMO programs, but Purdue's is unique in that it has experts in multiple subfields.
This ongoing research was carried out by each researcher. Shivaram suggested applications to attosecond science and proposed experimental schemes when he first suggested the idea. Wang and Greene developed a theoretical framework to calculate entangled photon emission from helium atoms, while Pandey and Shivaram worked out the details of proposed attosecond experimental schemes.
The publication is the beginning of this research. The theoretical aspects of the experiment are proposed by the authors in this publication. Shivaram and Greene will continue to work together. Shivaram's lab is building an apparatus to demonstrate some of the ideas. Shivaram hopes that other researchers in attosecond science will work on these ideas. The impact of this work could be further increased by a concerted effort. Someday, they hope to get the timescale of entangled photons down to a fraction of a second.
Experiments on attosecond timescales are usually performed using attosecond laserpulses. The current limit is 40 attoseconds. Shivaram says that the proposal could push this down to a few attoseconds.
One needs to understand that electrons play a fundamental role in determining the behavior of atoms, Molecules and Solid Materials. One millionth of a billionth of a second is the timescale of motion of electrons. Shivaram believes that gaining insight into the dynamics of electrons and tracking their motion is important.
He says that the goal of the field of ultrafast science is to make movies of electrons and then use light to control their behavior to engineer chemical reactions, make materials with novel properties, and so on. There are many possibilities for discovery with light-matter interaction. The time is 10 -21 seconds. A thousandth of a second is a minute and a half. It is not possible for researchers to explore zeptosecond phenomena due to lack of laser pulse. We could reach the zeptosecond regime using our unique approach. It is likely that this can be accomplished on the timescale of five years.
More information: Yimeng Wang et al, Attosecond entangled photons from two-photon decay of metastable atoms: A source for attosecond experiments and beyond, Physical Review Research (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L032038
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