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Stopping Light
Jon Abbott writes "NASA is reporting that physicists at Harvard University have managed to stop light altogether. The implications of this discovery are rather staggering -- quantum encryption and quantum computers might be just around the corner! " Well, I don't think this will mean any immediate changes - but it is a significant step.
And here's the story from when it was news, last year.
0xB
this story was stopped, held, and reemitted...
-m
You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas
It was not destroyed or absorbed, but rather stored -- ready to emerge intact at the scientists' bidding.
I can just see physicists getting calling people into the lab, turning out the lights and commanding, "Let There Be LIGHT!!!" at every available opportunity
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
They tend to call them "Red Lights" though. I wanna transporter, now.
What, me worry?
So it truly is vaporware!
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour Isaiah 3:5
I've noticed a couple of people wondering why this discovery important. Some other people know that it is useful for quantum computing, but they don't know how it would be useful. I'll see if I can help.
The most common way qubits are stored in quantum computers is as spin, which can be thought of as angular momentum, quantum-style. The particle usually used for this task is the electron. So, now we've got the qubit stored as spin, but how do we get the different particle's spin states to interact? If we can't get them to interact, we can't do any computation, so this is a very important question.
The most successful quantum computers (those with 7 qubits) so far use Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to make the qubits interact. This has it's problems, and would not be appropriate for a real quantum computer. So, to make a real (ie. Desktop) QC, we need something better.
This story talks about a method of turning information stored in light (as amplitude, IIRC) into spin. This sort of translation is exactly what is needed to make quantum computers work. An example QC could use a bunch of atom's as the memory system, with all of the qubits encoded as spin on the electrons orbiting the atoms. The CPU would be a bunch of optical components (beam splitters, polarizers, mirrors, etc.) that operate kind of like transistors. And the wires would just be fiber optics. Now, this is a little simplified, because it assumes we can make atomic scale optical components, but I am confident that it will happen soon.
Hope this helps some people understand why this is Stuff that matters.
Yes, I'm still a junky. Are you still a bitch?
"Light of Other Days"
Bob Shaw
First came out in '66
Still gives me a lump in my throat just thinking about it.
You either believe in rational thought or you don't
Slashdot is so silly sometimes it makes my head hurt.
Headline: Physicists Stop Light
Slashdot: The implications for quantum computing are staggering!
Headline: Transparent Aluminum Invented
Slashdot: The implications for case mods are staggering!
Headline: Secret of Time Travel Discovered
Slashdot: Yay! We don't have to wait 2 years to see the rest of [insert name of trilogy]!
Headline: Scientists Cure Cancer
Slashdot: The implications for quantum computing are staggering!
Headline: Terrorists Nuke South Dakota
Slashdot: The implications for quantum computing are staggering!
This was published in Nature over a year ago (25 January 2001 to be precise). This article (PDF format) is a nonspecialist introduction to this work, and this article (PDF format) is the peer-reviewed research article from Nature.
"It take 9 months to bear a child, no matter how many women you assign to the job."
I know you were joking, but you really can do Quantum computing with Perl
-- Will quantum computers run imaginary-time operating systems?