My general area of research is quantum computing and quantum information science. Quantum computing uses the rules of quantum physics to investigate light-matter interactions occurring at the atomic scales. One of the main applications in this area is to fully control the special quantum properties of atoms and photons (particles of light) and utilize these properties to build fundamentally newer ways of computation. However, photons, despite being fast carriers of information, don’t interact directly with each other. Thus, to enable information transfer between photons, typically intermediate systems are implemented. In this poster, we discuss how photons emitted by two excited atoms can be shined onto a beam splitter (a special mirror that reflects photons half of the time and allows them to pass through the other half) to produce effective types of photon-photon interactions. In this setting, we observe the creation of a special quantum effect called interference which allows both photons to emerge together at the same photodetector and never at different detectors. The foundations of this result lie in the so-called Bosonic property of quantum particles following which the photons always tend to bunch together. Moving forward, we plan to combine this effect with the storage of information in quantum systems. In particular, we aim to study how atoms trapped inside optical cavities can be used to store and process information through the above-mentioned type of interference effects. I view this project as a learning experience of the basic tools of quantum physics which will help me work in the quantum computing industry in the future.
Author(s): Hannah McDougall, Engineering Physics and Computer Science Major
Advisor(s): Imran Mirza, Department of Physics
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