量子研究員能夠暫停和重新啟動光

量子研究員能夠暫停和重新啟動光
Quantum Researchers Able to Stop and Restart Light
June 26, 2012 |
By admin
Translation by Autumnson Blog

醒來的時間
Waking Times
In two independent experiments that defy the notions of Einstein, researchers have been able to stop, then restart a beam of light.
以身試法，的在兩個挑戰愛因斯坦概念的獨立實驗中，研究人員已經能夠停止、然後重新啟動一束光線。
Ordinarily, light travels at the speed of 186,282 miles per second, but the research team of Lene Hau, a professor of physics at Harvard, who in 1999 was able to slow light down to 38 miles per hour, has been able to trap light in a cloud of sodium atoms super-cooled to near ‘absolute zero.’
通常情況下，光每秒以186,282英里的速度旅行，但哈佛大學物理學教授琳恩侯的研究小組，她在1999年能夠將光減緩至每小時38公里，已經能夠在一個鈉原子的雲中以超冷卻到接近“絕對零度”來捕獲光。
“It’s nifty to look into the chamber and see a clump of ultracold atoms floating there,” Hau says. “In this odd state, light takes on a more human dimension; you can almost touch it.” [1]
“去看進彈膛是漂亮的，及看到一叢超冷的原子漂浮在那裡，”侯說， “在這奇怪的光景，光呈現一更人性化的方面；你幾乎可以觸摸到它。”[1]
In an independent experiment, an easier approache was tried by the team of Ronald Walsworth and Mikhail Lukin at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).
在一個獨立的實驗中，一個更容易的途徑由羅納德Walsworth和米哈伊爾盧金的隊伍，在哈佛-史密森天體物理中心（CfA）被嘗試。

They shot laser beams through a dense cloud of rubidium and helium gas. (Rubidium, in its solid or natural form, is a soft, silver-white metal.) The light bounced from atom to atom, gradually slowing down until it stopped. No supervacuum or ultra-cold was needed. In fact, the chamber where the light stopped was at a temperature of 176 degrees F. [1]
他們通過一銣和氦氣的密集雲發射激光束（銣在其​​固體或自然的形式，是一柔軟、銀白色的金屬），光從原子到原子彈來彈去，逐漸放緩直到它停止，不需要超真空或超冷卻。事實上，光被停止的彈膛溫度在華氏176度[1]。

Both experiments accomplish almost the same thing, however, in the CfA experiment researchers were only able to store about half of the incoming light, and the storage time was about half that of Hau’s experiment.
兩個實驗完成了幾乎同樣的事情，然而在CfA的實驗，研究員只能夠儲存大約一半入射的光，及貯存的時間約是侯的實驗的一半。

Think of both contraptions as sophisticated light switches that control not just light but information. Incoming light can carry information expressed by changes or modulations of its frequency, amplitude, and phase. When the light stops, that information is stored just like information is stored in the electronic memory of a computer. To access the information, you turn on a control laser, and out it comes. [1]

Remarkably, scientists are somewhat uncertain about the implications and practicality of this research.

“We hope for wonderful things,” says David Phillips, who worked on the CfA “stop light” project. “Our imagination hasn’t figured out what the possibilities are yet.” [1]

However, there appear to be clear implications for using experiments like this to ultimately improve the speed of computers, potentially creating the possibility to shift from binary computing to quantum encoding of data.

Computers operating by these so-called quantum effects are much more efficient that those available today, or even on the drawing board. (“Quantum” refers to changes in the energy levels of the atoms.) Today’s machines represent information in bits, electronic combinations of zeros and ones. Bits represented by quantum states of atoms could carry much, much more information. Cubic inch for cubic inch, quantum computers could tackle problems that would stymie the most super of conventional computers. For example, they could perform many calculations simultaneously. [1]

The eminent physicist Albert Einstein theorized that it was impossible for light to travel at a speed faster than 186,282 miles per second, and in this case he has not yet been proven wrong.

Watch the following video for amazing footage of Hau’s research:
觀看下面侯的研究的神奇畫面視頻：

Lena Hau's laser experiments
萊娜侯的激光實驗
2011-04-15

Sources for this article include:
[1] www.news.harvard.edu

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2012/06/26/quantum-researchers-able-to-stop-and-restart-light/