Picture two light beams intersecting one another in space. When the beams touch one another, does the light bend? Reflect? Combine into a single beam?
The answer, of course, is the light beams do nothing; they simply continue on their path. That is because in most media -- including air, water, and vacuums -- particles of quantized light beams called photons do not interact.
But in certain crystalline materials and with a powerful enough laser, it is possible to make photons interact with one another and take on a special set of characteristics. Known as nonlinear optical effects, these characteristics could be manipulated for applications in both the classical and quantum domains.
Researchers at Northwestern University have proposed a new method for realizing nonlinear optical effects that is more practical than previous methods. The results represent a step forward toward quantum computing and could also have interdisciplinary applications in areas like gravity wave detection and biological microscopy.
A paper describing the research, "Photonic Nonlinearities via Quantum Zeno Blockade," was published on May 28 in Physical Review Letters.
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