December 12, 2003

ONE STEP CLOSER TO A QUANTUM COMPUTER

This week, it was announced that physicists at Harvard University were able to “stop light”.  Well, they didn’t actually stop it but they held it in place for a fraction of a second.  A pulse of light, or Photon, taken up by atoms in a gas are stopped for a hundred-thousandth of a second without taking away any of its energy. Why, you may ask, would we want to do this?  I have written about this topic in the past.  Quantum computers is just one application for this ongoing research.  Other possible applications include communications over long distances without the risk of eavesdropping.  It may also be able to improve current fiber-optic communications technology which already uses light as a carrier.

 This research is fascinating and mind-blowing.  The concept of being able to control light is beyond most people’s comprehension, my own included.  The magnitude of this is also beyond comprehension.  The simplest analogy I have been able to come up with is this:  The computers we are using today are as archaic to a quantum computer or light based computer as the invention of the wheel is to space travel.  Even that comparison may fall short.  If you read the newsletter written about quantum computers (just click the link in the previous paragraph) you may be able to grasp the concept a little better.  If you really want to go numb, have your eyes roll back in your head and start drooling, then the following link should do it for you.  It is to Harvard universities Department of Physics. Enjoy!

    http://qoptics.physics.harvard.edu/

 S&K