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Single photons on demand

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Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd
, , Citation Philippe Grangier and Izo Abram 2003 Phys. World 16 (2) 31 DOI 10.1088/2058-7058/16/2/35

2058-7058/16/2/31

Abstract

QUANTUM mechanics has gained a reputation for making counterintuitive predictions. But we rarely get the chance to witness these effects directly because, being humans, we are simply too big. Take light, for example. The light sources that are familiar to us, such as those used in lighting and imaging or in CD and DVD players, are so huge that they emit billions and billions of photons. But what if there was a light source that emitted just one photon at a time?

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10.1088/2058-7058/16/2/35