via Stanford New Service

Infinitely secure cryptography that renders any computer unhackable. Computers that can solve the structure of a complicated protein at the drop of a hat. Programs to decrypt complicated enemy secrets. Optical data connections up to 100 times faster than current technology allows.

Photons and atoms hold the power to make these innovations reality; scientists just have to figure out how to unlock their potential. Now, researchers at Stanford and the University of California-Santa Barbara have developed a quantum “light switch” that could have implications for the future of certain kinds of computing.

A team of scientists led by Jelena Vuckovic, assistant professor of electrical engineering, has succeeded in directly probing a solid quantum system with light. This finding could be a milestone on the road to building a functional “quantum computer,” a machine where information is coded in individual particles that flip between different states instead of in transistors switching on and off. The finding could lead to better quantum cryptography and faster optical data connections. Their study was published in the Dec. 6 issue of Nature.