Physics Frontier Center News

Optical fibers are hair-like threads of glass used to guide light. Fibers of exceptional purity have proved an excellent way of sending information over long distances and are the foundation of modern telecommunication systems. Transmission relies on what’s called total internal reflection, wherein the light propagates by effectively bouncing back and forth off of the fiber’s internal surface.

A new study from Edo Waks' group has shown how to sharpen nanoscale microscopy (nanoscopy) even more by better locating the exact position of the light source. The improvement involves taking into account the phantom dipole induced in the surface of a nanowire by the presence of a nearby quantum dot. The interference of light emitted by the dot with light emitted (in effect) by the phantom distorts the estimation of the dot's true location.

JQI researchers, under the direction of Christopher Monroe have demonstrated modular entanglement between two atomic systems, separated by one meter. Here, photons are the long distance information carriers entangling multiple qubit modules.

JQI Fellow and Assistant Professor of physics Vladimir Manucharyan has received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. His proposal, entitled “Realizing the ultrastrong coupling regime of quantum electrodynamics using high-impedance Josephson superconducting circuits,” will receive five years of funding. NSF funds research in science and engineering through grants, contracts and cooperative agreements.

For more information on NSF Awards visit: http://www.nsf.gov/about/