Superfast switching of quantum light sources
Friday, September 27, 2013 - 09:32
in Physics & Chemistry
Usually, an elementary light source – such as an excited atom or molecule – emits light of a particular color at an unpredictable instance in time. Recently, however, scientists have shown that a light source can be coaxed to emit light at a desired moment in time, within an ultrashort burst. The superfast switching of a light source has applications in fast stroboscopes without laser speckle, in the precise control of quantum systems and for ultrasecure communication using quantum cryptography.