Published on: Sun May 30 2010
Applied physicists create building blocks for a new class of optical circuits Imagine creating novel devices with amazing and exotic optical properties not found in Nature -- by simply evaporating a droplet of particles on a surface.Nanoshell structures: Self-assembly method yields materials with unique optical properties
Scientists from four U.S. universities have created a way to use Rice University's light-activated nanoshells as building blocks for 2-D and 3-D structures that could find use in chemical sensors, nanolasers and bizarre light-absorbing metamaterials. Much as a child might use Lego blocks to build 3-D models of complex buildings or vehicles, the scientists are using the new chemical self-assembly method to build complex structures that can trap, store and bend light.
Physicists build quantum amplifier with single artificial atom
(PhysOrg.com) -- By demonstrating how a single artificial atom can be used to amplify electromagnetic waves, physicists from Japan are opening up new possibilities for quantum amplifiers, which can be used in a variety of electronic and optical applications.
From a classical laser to a 'quantum laser'
Rainer Blatt's and Piet Schmidt's research team from the University of Innsbruck have successfully realized a single-atom laser, which shows the properties of a classical laser as well as quantum mechanical properties of the atom-photon interaction. The scientists have published their findings in the journal Nature Physics.
Yale scientists bring quantum optics to a microchip
A report in the journal Nature describes the first experiment in which a single photon is coherently coupled to a single superconducting qubit (quantum bit or "artificial atom"). This represents a new paradigm in which quantum optics experiments can be performed in a micro-chip electrical circuit using microwaves instead of visible photons and lasers. The work is a collaboration of the laboratory of Professor Robert Schoelkopf and the theory group of Professor Steven Girvin in the Departments of Applied Physics and Physics at Yale University.
Quantum leap: World's smallest transistor built with just 7 atoms
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have literally taken a leap into a new era of computing power by making the world's smallest precision-built transistor - a "quantum dot" of just seven atoms in a single silicon crystal. Despite its incredibly tiny size - a mere four billionths of a metre long - the quantum dot is a functioning electronic device, the world's first created deliberately by placing individual atoms.