Physicists Turn Schrödinger’s Cat on Its Head
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Researchers have developed a groundbreaking method to perform the fractional Fourier Transform of optical pulses using quantum memory. This unique achievement involved implementing the transformation on a “Schrödinger’s cat” state, having potential applications in telecommunications and spectroscopy.
Researchers from the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Physics, in collaboration with experts from the QOT Centre for Quantum Optical Technologies, have pioneered an innovative technique that allows the fractional Fourier Transform of optical pulses to be performed using quantum memory.
This achievement is unique on the global scale, as the team was the first to present an experimental implementation of the said transformation in this type of system. The results of the research were published in the prestigious journal
The spectrum of the pulse, and temporal distribution
Waves, such as light, have their own characteristic properties — pulse duration and frequency (corresponding, in the case of light, to its color). It turns out that these characteristics are related to each other through an operation called the Fourier Transform, which makes it possible to switch from describing a wave in time to describing its spectrum in frequencies.
The fractional Fourier Transform is a generalization of the Fourier Transform that allows a partial transition from a description of a wave in time to a description in frequency. Intuitively, it can be understood as a rotation of a distribution (for example, the chronocyclic Wigner function) of the considered signal by a certain angle in the time-frequency domain.
Students in the laboratory presenting rotation of Schrödinger cat states. No actual cats were hurt during the project. Credit: S. Kurzyna and B. Niewelt, University of Warsaw
It turns out that transforms of this type are exceptionally useful in the design of special spectral-temporal filters to eliminate noise and enable the creation of algorithms that make it possible to use the quantum nature of light to distinguish pulses of different frequencies more precisely than traditional methods. This is especially important in spectroscopy, which helps study the chemical properties of matter, and telecommunications, which requires the transmission and processing of information with high precision and…
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