SIGNIFICANT EVENTS - SCIENCE EVENTS
11/14/03

Wisconsin Group Delineates Novel Ideas for Quantum Sources

Thad Walker of the University of Wisconsin announces the publication of novel concepts for single photon and single-atom sources. Titled "Creating single atom and single photon sources from entangled atomic ensembles" by M.Saffman and T.G.Walker, (Phys.Rev.A 66, 065403 (2002)), the paper describes approaches for developing these sources for use in quantum information applications. Such sources have been proposed as methods for transmitting information with much improved security. The authors discuss how to combine many-atom entanglement with laser cooling and trapping techniques to show that both atoms and photons can be extracted with well-defined propagation directions.