Meta-Atoms and Light-Bits

120-cell_Carlos Sequin

This is about freezing light, mostly so it can be used as memory in photonic computing, which is one of the places we are going with the future of computing, that is, beyond circuits for electric information. The following two articles are just about the ubiquity of quantum mechanical manipulation in increasingly 'normal' circumstances.

[The Rise of Photonics]

Device can theoretically trap a light 'bit' for an infinite amount of time

phys.org, Nov 2015

To overcome light's penchant for escaping, Lannebère and Silveirinha utilized an idea proposed by John von Neumann and Eugene Wigner in 1929, and later extended by others, which has led to the discovery that transparent structures with tailored geometries can perfectly confine light by scattering it in a very specific way.

Lannebère and Silveirinha showed that this strategy for confining light can be achieved by shining light on a spherical "meta-atom," so-named because it allows light to have only a specific quantized energy value (creating a light "bit"), similar to how an atom allows electrons to occupy only certain quantized energy levels.

Quantum entanglement achieved at room temperature in semiconductor wafers
phys.org, Nov 2015
[Room temperature, whatever.]

Physicists mimic quantum entanglement with laser pointer to double data speeds
phys.org, Oct 2015
"While there's no 'spooky action at a distance,' it's amazing that quantum entanglement aspects can be mimicked by something that simple."