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."

Comments

Begging the question:

[Anonymous Coward]

How big are the sharks?

Wow

[stratjakt]

Hooray

Quantum computers, sure. I bet they'll even run Duke Nuk'Em Forever lan parties over IPv6.

Re:Wow

[EulerX07]

SCIENTIST : With this you could create a Quantum computer.

ENGINEER : Uhhm, it's not that simple...

SLASHDOTTER : Yes it is! Keep up please!

Re:Wow

[poot_rootbeer]

Quantum computers, sure. I bet they'll even run Duke Nuk'Em Forever lan parties over IPv6.

They might, they might not...

Re:Wow

[killthiskid]

Or they could both be running and not running the game at the same time!

No one will know until they open up the door to the room where the lan party may or may not be taking place.

But the bigger question is..

[inteller]

Will this incinerate ants better than my trusty magnifying glass?

Wow

[CaptBubba]

This is simply amazing. I'm trying to picture all the machinery and people that went into getting that one atom to light up.

And now the physicists hand the engineers the huge task: "Ok, we got it to work, you get it to do something usefull"

Not big enough.

[caluml]

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?

Re:Not big enough.

[sharkey]

I want a laser that can burn a 200 metre-wide hole through the moon from Earth.

Or at least criss-cross campus leading co-eds to the sign it's lighting proclaiming one BITCHIN' pool party.

Nope. Sorry.

[FreeLinux]

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.

Friggin parameciums

[Unknown Poltroon]

with frigin lazers on their heads.

Finally, I have the weapon I need ...

[burgburgburg]

to conquer the Nanobot world. I WILL rule in Nanobotia. Benevolently, but firmly.

But should even one of those Nanobots cross me, ZZAPP!

Cesium in quantum computers...

[DrEldarion]

Cesium in your computer, huh?

Now there's a good reason not to spill coffee at your desk...

-- Dr. Eldarion --

Re:Rubbish

[grub]

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"

A 12 gauge shotgun could be used in cancer treatments. Of course making sure you only blast out the cancer cells is the really hard part.

Imagine?

[Slicebo]

Can you imagine what you could make with a Beowulf cluster of these?

A FLASHLIGHT!

At home with the amoeba

[Channard]

A 12 gauge shotgun could be used in cancer treatments. Of course making sure you only blast out the cancer cells is the really hard part.

Well, that's where the nano-rednecks come in.

Re:Like this

[orthogonal]

> /--------\
> Cesium atom ---- Internet ---> quantum computing
> \--------/

> Obviously you've never written a business proposal
> before.

No, obviously YOU have not. The proper proposal looks like this:

/--------\
Collect underpants ---> Cesium atom ---- Internet ---> ??? ---> quantum computing
\--------/

Thanks a lot

[arnie_apesacrappin]

QM just took an interesting step forward.

Now that you've told us where QM is, we'll never know how fast it's progressing.

Nightmare finding the replacement parts ...

[Spectre]

Given the state of my desk, I'll never be able to find the hot-swap spare atom ...

Thinkgeek.com

[Fubar411]

How long until ThinkGeek puts up a banner ad for single atom green lasers?

Sandpaper

[Julian Morrison]

Having an exoskeleton simplifies tattoo removal. You just need an extremely small piece of fine-grained sandpaper...