(ScienceBlog) Quantum computers, which use light particles (photons) instead of electrons to transmit and process data, hold the promise of a new era of research. Now researchers from the Photonics Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at The Graduate Center, CUNY have developed a new protocol for storing and releasing a single photon in an embedded eigenstate — a quantum state that is virtually unaffected by loss and decoherence.
The novel protocol aims to advance the development of quantum computers. “The goal is to store and release single photons on demand by simultaneously ensuring the stability of data,” said Andrea Alù, founding director of the ASRC Photonics Initiative and Einstein Professor of Physics at The Graduate Center. “Our work demonstrates that is possible to confine and preserve a single photon in an open cavity and have it remain there until it’s prompted by another photon to continue propagating.”