Researchers control quantum uncertainty with ultrafast squeezed light, boosting secure communications and quantum optics.
In a first-of-its-kind experiment, researchers have captured quantum uncertainty in real time using ultrafast pulses of light.Nearly a century after Werner Heisenberg proposed the uncertainty principle, this breakthrough puts the famous concept into direct, real-time observation.
At the heart of the discovery is “squeezed light,” said Mohammed Hassan, the paper’s corresponding author and associate professor of physics and optical sciences.In quantum physics, light has two linked properties that roughly correspond to a particle’s position and intensity, but can never be known with perfect precision, a principle known as uncertainty.The product of these two measurements cannot fall below a threshold, much like the fixed amount of air in a balloon.“Ordinary light is like a round balloon, with uncertainty spread evenly between its measurements,” Hassan said.“Squeezed light – also known as quantum light – is stretched into an oval, where one property becomes quieter and more precise, while the other grows noisier.”Precision in every photonThis squeeze has practical applications: gravitational-wave detectors already use squeezed light to cut through background noise and detect faint ripples in spacetime.Previous techniques relied on laser pulses lasting milliseconds. Hassan wanted to explore whether squeezed light could be generated with ultrafast pulses measured in femtoseconds, or one quadrillionth of a second.“Creating quantum light with ultrafast laser pulses would be a revolutionary step, and the first real implementation combining quantum optics and ultrafast science,” he said.“The main technical challenge was phase-matching between lasers of different colors, which usually requires complex setups. I realized our technology could overcome this problem.”Hassan and colleagues developed a method using four-wave mixing, where different light sources interact and combine. They split a laser into three identical beams and focused them into fused silica, producing ultrafast squeezed light.Earlier approaches reduced uncertainty in a photon’s phase. Hassan’s team instead squeezed a photon’s intensity and demonstrated real-time control, fluctuating between intensity and phase-squeezing by adjusting the silica’s position relative to the beams.If the silica is perpendicular, photons arrive together. A slight change in angle delays one photon. That tiny adjustment controls the squeeze.“This is the first-ever demonstration of ultrafast squeezed light, and the first real-time measurement and control of quantum uncertainty,” Hassan said.“By combining ultrafast lasers with quantum optics, we are opening the door to a new field: ultrafast quantum optics.”Securing quantum communicationThe team has applied the method to secure communications. While ultrafast and squeezed light pulses have been separately used for transmitting data, combining them enhances both speed and security.“If someone intercepts data sent with quantum light, the network will immediately detect the intrusion – but the intruder could still acquire some information with a decoding key,” Hassan said.“Using our method, an eavesdropper not only disturbs the quantum state but also must know both the key and the exact pulse amplitude.Their interference affects the amplitude squeezing, meaning they cannot determine the correct uncertainty, and any decoded data is inaccurate.”Beyond communications, ultrafast quantum light could revolutionize quantum sensing, chemistry, and biology. Hassan envisions more precise diagnostics, novel drug discovery techniques, and ultrasensitive detectors for environmental monitoring.Hassan collaborated with Mohamed Sennary, Mohammed ElKabbash, and international teams from Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies.The findings of the study have been published in Light: Science & Applications.
Quantum Light Quantum Optics Quantum Sensing Quantum Uncertainty Secure Communication Squeezed Light Ultrafast Lasers
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