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Entanglement—a uniquely quantum phenomenon that intimately links the fate of subatomic particles even if they reside on opposite sides of the galaxy—is a key
The creation and detection of single photons (the smallest units of light) has grown in a few decades from an experimental laboratory pursuit to an important
For decades, astronomers and physicists have been trying to solve one of the deepest mysteries about the cosmos: An estimated 85% of its mass is missing.
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have invented and demonstrated a novel scheme for substantially improving the detection
Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and colleagues at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) have prepared and controlled a
When it comes to a marriage with quantum theory, gravity is the lone holdout among the four fundamental forces in nature. The three others—the electromagnetic
In high-end 21 st century communications, information travels in the form of a stream of light pulses typically traveling through fiber optic cables. Each pulse
One of the chief obstacles facing quantum computer designers — correcting the errors that creep into a processor’s calculations — could be overcome with a new
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have proposed a novel method for finding dark matter, the cosmos’s
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have devised and demonstrated a system that could dramatically increase the performance
A high-end race car engine needs all its components tuned and working together precisely to deliver top-quality performance. The same can be said about the
A new measurement approach proposed by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) could lead to a better way to calibrate computed
In an arranged marriage of optics and mechanics, physicists have created microscopic structural beams that have a variety of powerful uses when light strikes
When is a traffic jam not a traffic jam? When it's a quantum traffic jam, of course. Only in quantum physics can traffic be standing still and moving at the
Individual photons of light now can be detected far more efficiently using a device patented by a team including the National Institute of Standards and
Precise measurements of optical power enable activities from fiber-optic communications to laser manufacturing and biomedical imaging — anything requiring a
NIST scientists have devised an experimental photon-detection system for communications with error rates far below even the most ideal conventional designs
A NIST team is at work on what promises to be one of the world's most accurate methods for generating a specified number of photons, and has devised a method to
By employing a technique analogous to the operation of noise-canceling headphones, PML researchers have created an exquisitely sensitive, semiconductor-based
Many systems envisioned for practical quantum information processing require the use of single, indistinguishable photons as carriers of information and logic