Physicists Store, Retrieve a "Squeezed Vacuum"

An anonymous reader sends us to the site of Science Magazine for news that will interest those who have followed experiments to slow and stop light. Research groups in Canada and Japan have succeeded separately in storing a special kind of vacuum — a "squeezed vacuum" — in a puff of gas and then retrieving it a split second later. Such experiments might lead to advances in quantum encryption. At the very least they will help to illuminate the boundary between quantum and classical realms.

Re:There is no boundry

[Anonymous Coward]

That was always my thought.

In order to see position or speed of electrons of an atom we beam electrons into said atom, an swatch the scattered results. That is like determining where the earth is in it's orbit by flinging jupiter sized planets through the solar system and see what gets scattered where.

Re:That drawing board is getting a bit small...

[ral8158]

Quantum computing is basically worthless without traditional processors working along side it. Although there are many things quantum works exceedingly well for, the vast majority of tasks get no benefit from being on a quantum computer. There probably won't be a 400000x increase in the near future.

Re:Mark My Words

[The Living Fractal]

lol.. I just *hope* you are kidding.... and you know what I meant by Singularity.

Quantum Encryption--not needed

[BrentRJones]

With the Internet why is Quantum Encryption needed?

If you have an algorithm that can be run on 2 computers separated by distance, you can stream IP packets into several different strands that are relayed through several P2P servers just to confuse things and then reassembled at the destination machine. You could even add in false information that would be filtered out. In fact, a youtube video received by both computers could be used as the "carrier" the same way a one-time use cipher pad was used in the old days.

When messages can be sent in chunks at electron speeds via different routes, I do not see how it is even theoretically possible to decrypt them. You can't listen to every bit of traffic, there is simply too much of it.

Re:meeting of the minds

[mother_of_recursion]

I can't help but be amused at the thought of how many people with undergraduate degrees in CS, having taken probably less than three college physics courses, are convinced they have any grasp of this phenomena; I have a BS in physics and it's way beyond my ken. But as for this line of reasoning, maybe a Douglas Adams quote is best, "Isn't it enough to see the garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too."

Re:There is no boundry

[Anonymous Coward]

A quick breakdown.

As TFA states, this is a 'technical' achievement. They've shown how to create, and MEASURE a well-predicted phenomena in quantum optics. This is significant, because pretty much anything in quantum optics is difficult to demonstrate. Measurement/observation of quantum phenomena 'destroys' quantum behaviour, so a good deal of physical understanding, and cleverness, is needed to perform an experiment.

To speak broadly, this work, like most of QO is a lo-ong way away from a practical device, i.e. something that can interface with 'classical' physics without destroying it's quantum behavior. But hey, a step up is still a step higher, no matter how you slice it.

JDS