Quantum Camera On a Silicon Chip

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."

Comments

Re:Unless I missunderstand the scale...

[ceoyoyo]

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.

Bose-eisens-who-what??

[gravos]

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.