Funding in the millions for superatoms threaded along optical nanofibers

Illustration of a tapered optical fiber with a nanofiber waist along which an array of superatoms is lined up  Figure: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Team of three researchers with participation from Humboldt-Universität to receive 8 million euros in funding from the European Research Council Both a future tap-proof quantum Internet and the quantum computer use principles and methods of quantum optics, which deals with the interaction of photons, i.e. light particles, with quantum emitters such as atoms or molecules. Particular progress has recently been made in the field of nonlinear quantum optics. There, one investigates photons that attract or repel each other in a similar way to electrically charged particles. The knowledge gained in this way advances the fundamental understanding of light-matter interaction and could enable the realization of key devices for quantum communication and quantum information processing. However, photons do not interact under normal circumstances. If this is to be changed, it has to be ensured, so to speak, that they cannot avoid each other and meet simultaneously at one and the same atom. This task will be addressed by the research project "Superatom Waveguide Quantum Electrodynamics" (SuperWave) over the next six years.