Light is special. In our everyday experience it behaves like a wave, which gets reflected, refracted and shows interference with other light of the same wavelength. At the same time, light also consists of particles, so-called photons. This duality is quite fundamental: the Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment for example only works because of the [...]
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Tag Archives: Bose-Einstein condensate
More cool polariton stuff
September 17, 2010
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Earlier this week I wrote about some of the exciting polaritons in semiconductors. And just a few days later, there is another intriguing paper on this topic out. Something that I speculate(!) might lead to new types of quantum computers. But to recapitulate, polaritons are object that form when light interacts with electronic excitations. What I [...]
Read moreThe cool side of semiconductors
September 14, 2010
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Ultracold atoms might no longer be the only hot game in the town of cold condensates. A few weeks ago I highlighted the analogies between the science of ultracold atoms and other areas of physics, down to lasers even. Now meet the new kids on the block: the polaritons. Even though they sound more like [...]
Read moreMore Hanbury Brown and Twiss fun
August 25, 2010
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Last week I wrote about interesting physics that can be done with ultracold atoms. One of the experiments I described was related to the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect. Although I mentioned the experiment in some detail, the focus of my post was more on the analogies between ultracold atom systems and other physical systems. I did [...]
Read moreUltracold atoms as model systems
August 19, 2010
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One of the fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics is that objects can be described as waves, whether they are electrons, atoms, light, anything really, even your cat (or that of Erwin Schrödinger). And of course, if the equations that describe their wavefunctions are identical, objects will behave in the same way. Even if they are [...]
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Welcome to my personal blog, where I write about the latest exciting developments in the physical sciences. As editor at one of the leading scientific journals in the physical sciences I bring my own perspective to the latest trends in the field.
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- Great, the physics Nobel prize for graphene! Now don’t overhype it…
- Science in the age of austerity
- Transparency in peer review
- Semiconductor optical switches reach the speed of light
- What are the realistic promises of metamaterials and cloaking?
- The air is getting thinner for silicon’s competitors
- High-risk research can’t be kept secret forever
- The economics of science
- Decisions, decisions
- Transistors reach the single atom limit
- Why fancy illustrations are so wrong
- From ‘abbreviations’ to ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’
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maurymw: Should be happens via a small electric current tha...
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Why do we need academic journals in the first place? — Tech News and Analysis: [...] academic journals are supposed to provide so...
- ResearchBlogging.org News » Blog Archive » Editor’s Selections: Dropout electrons, Single-atom transistors, and Apple/Cracker Pie: [...] continues in the field of quantum computing....
