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Single-atom Laser Built at Caltech
hweimer writes "A research group at Caltech has successfully constructed a laser consisting of only one caesium atom. The emitted light is very weak but highly ordered, so such a device may be used to control a quantum computer. More on this can be found at PhysicsWeb."
How big are the sharks?
for all the ray-gun and light-sabre posts
Hooray
Quantum computers, sure. I bet they'll even run Duke Nuk'Em Forever lan parties over IPv6.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
...the single-atom Mini Me to hump it?
Will this incinerate ants better than my trusty magnifying glass?
Tell you what, I don't want to hear anymore about quantum computers or cold fusion until someone actually ships a quantum computer powered by cold fusion. A laptop form factor would be preferred but, is not required.
Mk?
why does every science experiment have to throw in buzzwords such as "may be use in quantum computers" or "may help a cure for cancer"
until any of this is a reality or someone actually builds it, its all bullshit, maybe im fed up of scinetific experiments with no purpose until they throw in the critical
"nanotubes" "space elevators" "quantum computers" "cure for cancer"
And now the physicists hand the engineers the huge task: "Ok, we got it to work, you get it to do something usefull"
Here's a handy link with all the articles on GoogleNews:
http://news.google.com/news?q=single+atom+laser
I want a laser that can burn a 200 metre-wide hole through the moon from Earth.
What's that you say? Why? What do you mean, why?
Get your own free personal location tracker
But, it may prove useful in surgery on ants and may even be used for tatoo removal on ants. This is especially important for those ants who now regret the indiscretions of their teenage years.
with frigin lazers on their heads.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
Is it just me, or would this make one hell of a gyroscope?
How do you put an "on" switch on a cesium atom?
But should even one of those Nanobots cross me, ZZAPP!
...so such a device may be used to control a quantum computer..
Ah, that would be the quantum computer on board the manned space expedition to Mars, power by a fission-reactor ion-drive. Back home we can watch it via our ubiquetous videophones, or our Linux powered desktops, which can run applications with true Artificial Intelligence. All our homes will be supplied by nuclear electricity that is too cheap to meter. There will be peace in Isreal.. etc..
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
All I can think to say is wow! This is pretty awesome when you consider the ramifications. QM just took an interesting step forward.
"Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
Cesium in your computer, huh?
Now there's a good reason not to spill coffee at your desk...
-- Dr. Eldarion --
(Blatantly stolen from link on the right of the article)
But it does answer the question I was asking myself...
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
I learned it spelled as Cesium, and everything I've ever seen spells it that way. Is this just some over-spelling, or is it something like the Aluminum vs. Aluminium spelling/pronunciation conflict?
Random and weird software I've written.
friggin' sharks.
Can you imagine what you could make with a Beowulf cluster of these?
A FLASHLIGHT!
This is way too small to be an effective weapon. The future is in larger chemical lasers.
I know, I know, I actually read the article. I can remember when lasers were interesting, before they were just cheap modern replacements for phonograph needles.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
Yeah, because we all know how much the army needs to blow up those goddamn hydrogen nucleii.
Well, that's where the nano-rednecks come in.
I wonder if the term "constructed" is really relevant, considering they used a single atom ;-)
blah
Cesium atom ---- Internet ---> quantum computing
\--------/
Obviously you've never written a business proposal before.
Let's see if Slashcode supports Unicode: "Caesium".
'Sensible' is a curse word.
Guess not, though it seems to degrade well.
'Sensible' is a curse word.
Answer me, you cheating bastard. It's HER again, isn't it?
I'm sure Intel and others are probably going to be highly interested in this.
Does this mean it's not yet bright enough to point at my Keynote slides?
I, for one, can now overthrow our quantum computer masters!
Well spell it however we want.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
Not the Java job stealing ones - the real ones.
Well, you've got to start from somewhere...
When we were all rich like Stewart on the Ameritrade ads?
Now that you've told us where QM is, we'll never know how fast it's progressing.
Still, with a plan, you only get the best you can imagine. I'd always hoped for something better than that. -CP
the 2,979,683,891 IP addesses that each person in the world would have with IPv8 are not enough. Go with IPv10 so I can have 193,753,945,031,922 IP addesses, that way each of my atoms can have its own IP address. :)
All misspellings and grammatical errors in the above post are intentional and part of my artistic expression.
It's the spirit of the interweb incarnate posting on slashdot.
2 atoms!
Sorry, couldn't resist. ;-)
Go Beavers!
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
All I think when I hear the words "1 atom laser". Extra high resolution CDs that allow the space neccessary for crazy good sample rates that could one day make a worthy replacement for vinyl. Then the record companies can have something we'd actually buy so they don't have to steal to survive.
Be careful not to hit one of the laser reflectors left by the Apollo astronauts..
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
by posting on /.
The data density of CDs depends on just the wavelength of photons, and not that much on the other properties of the laser. The new laser has interesting implications for novel things like quantum computing, but not for CDs or similar 'classical' technologies.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
"Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
Off the top of my head I can think of two areas where this could be useful for quantum computing. The first would be as a way to comvert flying qubits (photons) in to stationary qubits. If this could be done, than technology such as quantum repeaters would be possible, therefore allowing for long distance quantum cryptography. The second would be as a single photon source, which would have big applications in optical quantum computing.
The article, however, was very light on specifics. It says that the light exhibits antibunching, yet calls it a laser. My understanding of coherent states was that the probability of sending out two photons was high enough that it causes problems with quantum cryptography (Eve can simply observe one of the flying qubits and let the other one go). So do they envision using this as a single photon source? I haven't had a chance to read the journal article yet, so if someone who has a little more info could clarify I would be quite appreciative.
How long until ThinkGeek puts up a banner ad for single atom green lasers?
Karma: NaN
The year is 2275. Mankind has extended its reach to the distant corners of the solar system. Mighty mining ships skim the distances to the Oort cloud while wondrous orbiting hotels and resorts skim the surface of Jupiter.
And this newfangled single-atom laser still has not made it to mass production.
How could you forget the last step?
---> Profit!!
We may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode. -Capt. Mal Reynolds
(And the answerer doesn't get full credit unless they show the full emulation chain neccessary to do so!)
In my limited understanding, they are currently using technology to make the marks smaller, and that they having been coming up with optical technology to read these smaller marks and make them appear larger (not sure on the terminology). I would figure having a more directional and precise laser would make this technology more possible?
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligature
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lasers are already directional and precise. They're lasers. All lasers are. The width of the laser beam is dependent upon the frequency of the light, so having a smaller laser doesn't do you much except you can put it in smaller places.
We can always make a small laser by taking a big laser and putting a pinhole in front of it. Size of the laser is not a limiting factor.
Yes, I understand your post was quite witty; ya never know when a random [worthless] piece of knowledge might come in handy though.
Karma: NaN
Thanks anonymous.
I just want to know when I can buy a real life Star Trek phaser or Babylon 5 PPG to have as my very own. Why use bullets when you can cause wounds that cauterize themselves?
I get this kind of mail all the time:
"You may be qualified for a loan of up to $53,236.44 OR MORE!!!"
Um... right. They've just spent some ridiculous amount of money to put together a slick envelope containing a piece of paper with a randomly generated number on it (quite possibly using a quantum computer, though not likely) to alert me that I MIGHT be qualified for a loan.
What's this got to do with single-atom lasers? About as much as Duke Nukem Forever, which is to say, little.
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
Having an exoskeleton simplifies tattoo removal. You just need an extremely small piece of fine-grained sandpaper...
Except that you have no idea how much work it takes to get that one atom inside the optical cavity, and coupled to it. You've got to shoot other lasers at it to cool it (MOT) and use steep magnetic fields to trap it. I know a graduate student (at Caltech) who's been spending the last 5 years "constructing" this.
I have developed a laser which uses billions of atoms and you can control a billion quantum computers with it!
I just won't let you use it! Besides, you are violating my rights.
Super Clever Organisation
Incidentally, I think this is the first time we've been slashdotted. Some of the other grad students and I have been reading and enjoying the comments. We'll get straight to work on the sharks to go with the frickin lasers, um, as soon as we stop reading Slashdot. I'll see if I can get the authors of the paper to post a comment later about the workings of the experiment.
The limiting factor is the scratches that the a$$holes put on the DVD just before you get to hire it.
That's "We'll spell it however we want."
And what does the Z stand for in your version? "ztimulated"?
welcome our new Caesium Overlords
With one atom of gain medium, you can pump it with one pboton to your high energy level, and dump it with another photon. The two photons do leave the gain "medium" (all one atom of it) coherently, but so what?
The clearance system sounds logical. It is not. It is completely arbitrary. -- John Bolton
Will this offer any opportunity for new double slit experiments? Or were they already using single atoms? (wasn't that the whole point? ergo, didn't someone already make single atom lasers?) Anyone want to refresh me?
Everything that was once directly lived has receded into a representation. -debord
This experiment is new only in that the atom is nearly at rest in the cavity.