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Quantum Camera On a Silicon Chip

Posted by timothy on from the tech-mad-libs-or-buzzword-bingo dept.

stefanparvu14 writes "Physicists in Switzerland and California have developed a new type of camera capable of imaging quantum correlations between pairs of photons. The details are presented in the current issue of the open-access publication New Journal of Physics. Unlike a conventional camera with a CCD imager, this camera is composed of Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) pixels implemented on a high-performance CMOS chip. One of the authors has provided more background for the non-physicist. Apparently, it could be used to verify the existence of Bose-Einstein condensates that are now starting to be produced in new ways."

6 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. No picture with the aricle ... by tomhudson · · Score: 3, Informative

    Because sometimes the camera is there ... and sometimes it isn't.

  2. The first link... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...to this page while interesting on its own, doesn't appear relevant to the article.

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    http://michaelsmith.id.au
    1. Re:The first link... by alfrin · · Score: 3, Informative

      ...to this page while interesting on its own, doesn't appear relevant to the article.

      Notice the URL. Notice who posted the article.

    2. Re:The first link... by alfrin · · Score: 2, Informative

      ...to this page while interesting on its own, doesn't appear relevant to the article.

      Notice the URL. Notice who posted the article.

      I know it is a page from the poster. But the page content doesn't match the link text.

      Exactly. It seems to me it was a quick throw in to get traffic to his site. A link obviously unchecked in the editing process.

  3. Re:Unless I missunderstand the scale... by ceoyoyo · · Score: 4, Informative

    You're already observing the photons and yes, it sure does change them. They're absorbed.

    The difference here is that instead of just noting that "oh, yup, a photon was absorbed," you detect whether or not a pair of photons was absorbed at the same time.

  4. Bose-eisens-who-what?? by gravos · · Score: 4, Informative

    A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter of bosons confined in an external potential and cooled to temperatures very near to absolute zero. Bosons are just elementary particles which obey Bose-Einstein statistics. Bose-Einstein statistics determine the statistical distribution of identical, indistinguishable bosons over the energy states in thermal equilibrium.

    Confused yet? Me too.

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    This game will waste your life. Don't clicky!