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A Single-Photon Server

Posted by Zonk on from the is-that-an-ai-in-your-eyelash dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "A team of German physicists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics has built a single-photon server with just one atom. They've trapped ultra cold atoms of rubidium in a vacuum chamber and applied laser pulses from one side. The generated photons were of 'high quality,' meaning their energy was very similar from one test to another, and that their properties could be controlled. The researchers think this new way to generate single photons will help the field of quantum information processing. "

11 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Headline? by MrNaz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Headline reading "Single photon server" + the supercomputing article logo = Confused readers

    Before I read the sumary I was thinking they'd managed to install Apache on a photon. So yea, with regards to photons, they're cool and all, but do they run Linux?

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    I hate printers.
    1. Re:Headline? by bmgoau · · Score: 5, Funny

      I wonder if this "Photon Server" can survive a slashdoting.

    2. Re:Headline? by seizium · · Score: 3, Funny

      I can see the headlines now. "Scientists blinded by photon server" "Scientists install photon server into a lighthouse" "Scientists make contact with extra terestrials thanks to new lighthouse" "Mankind wiped out - Slashdot blamed"

    3. Re:Headline? by Alsee · · Score: 2, Funny

      The phrase "photon server" struck me as a bit odd... and then reading the article I came across "photons can be distributed to a user" and I couldn't help wondering if they planned to profile their users and serve photons with targeted banner ads embedded.

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      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  2. Binary by xarak · · Score: 5, Funny


    I can see the two states; photon=1, photoff=0.

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    Atheism is a non-prophet organisation
  3. Imagine... by yootje · · Score: 4, Funny

    A Beowulf cluster of THESE! That would be something.

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    My photo's.
    1. Re:Imagine... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      i already have a beowulf cluster of these, in my flashlight...

  4. single photon optics by picob · · Score: 5, Funny

    Very useful, especially in combination with the Single-Pixel Camera:
    http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/ 18/2117243

  5. But... by kitsunewarlock · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is the security good enough? How much space does it have? And, most importantly, how big are the cables that attach to this thing?

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    Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
  6. Wow! by edwardpickman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just imagine what they could do with two photons!

    1. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I can. It's called a light bulb.