Naval Research Laboratory has created a quantum science technique designed to release single photos or individual light particles of the same color. NRL said Monday that its new technique compresses quantum dots to produce photons that could be less than millionth a meter away from each other.
Allan Bracker, a chemist from NRL, said the discovery may support efforts to develop quantum information technologies and brain-inspired computing.
“NRL’s new method for tuning the wavelength of quantum dots could enable new technologies that use the strange properties of quantum physics for computing, communication and sensing,†Bracker said.
Quantum dots or small particles must release light at equal wavelengths to interact with one another. These particles do not come in the same size upon creation, but NRL’s new technology allows for emissions of light at the same wavelength.
“Instead of making quantum dots perfectly identical to begin with, we change their wavelength afterwards by shrink-wrapping them with laser-crystallized hafnium oxide,†said Joel Grim, an NRL physicist who serves as the project’s lead researcher.
