Friday, December 6, 2013

Gotcha! Photons Seen Without Being Destroyed in a First

Brought to you by Ben Z.


Scientists have used a single atom trapped in an optical resonator to detect the presence of a reflected photon without destroying that packet of light.  Credit: MPQ, Quantum Dynamics Division.


7 comments:

Arthur said...

I found that this was a very interesting article. It was slightly confusing though. I find it interesting that we can now see photons without having them destroyed. It is unfortunate that it loses its ability to become a qubit (what is that called? qubitism?). If I understand correctly, a photon can be two things at once, but it loses that ability if we observe it in this way. Is that correct? Overall I would give this article a 9 because i was very interesting and informative, but it was a bit confusing.

Joel said...

It is really cool that you can see a photon without destroying it. I will agree with Arthur that this article is confusing. The entire concept of a qubit is confusing me. Just the process of having 1 and 0 be both on is against everything that I know is true. I give this article a 8 out of 10 because qubits go against math.

Joel said...

It is really cool that you can see a photon without destroying it. I will agree with Arthur that this article is confusing. The entire concept of a qubit is confusing me. Just the process of having 1 and 0 be both on is against everything that I know is true. I give this article a 8 out of 10 because qubits go against math.

Joel said...

It is really cool that you can see a photon without destroying it. I will agree with Arthur that this article is confusing. The entire concept of a qubit is confusing me. Just the process of having 1 and 0 be both on is against everything that I know is true. I give this article a 8 out of 10 because qubits go against math.

Joel said...

It is really cool that you can see a photon without destroying it. I will agree with Arthur that this article is confusing. The entire concept of a qubit is confusing me. Just the process of having 1 and 0 be both on is against everything that I know is true. I give this article a 8 out of 10 because qubits go against math.

Joel said...

It is really cool that you can see a photon without destroying it. I will agree with Arthur that this article is confusing. The entire concept of a qubit is confusing me. Just the process of having 1 and 0 be both on is against everything that I know is true. I give this article a 8 out of 10 because qubits go against math.

Charlotte said...

I thought it was rely cool to see a photon without destroying it. It was really informative, but it didn't make complete sense. There were lots of loop holes and goes against logic and math. I am not completely sure I believe this article.