2 research outputs found
Toward Quantum Superposition of Living Organisms
The most striking feature of quantum mechanics is the existence of
superposition states, where an object appears to be in different situations at
the same time. The existence of such states has been tested with small objects,
like atoms, ions, electrons and photons, and even with molecules. More
recently, it has been possible to create superpositions of collections of
photons, atoms, or Cooper pairs. Current progress in optomechanical systems may
soon allow us to create superpositions of even larger objects, like micro-sized
mirrors or cantilevers, and thus to test quantum mechanical phenomena at larger
scales. Here we propose a method to cool down and create quantum superpositions
of the motion of sub-wavelength, arbitrarily shaped dielectric objects trapped
inside a high--finesse cavity at a very low pressure. Our method is ideally
suited for the smallest living organisms, such as viruses, which survive under
low vacuum pressures, and optically behave as dielectric objects. This opens up
the possibility of testing the quantum nature of living organisms by creating
quantum superposition states in very much the same spirit as the original
Schr\"odinger's cat "gedanken" paradigm. We anticipate our essay to be a
starting point to experimentally address fundamental questions, such as the
role of life and consciousness in quantum mechanics.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, published versio
Proof-of-Concept of Real-World Quantum Key Distribution with Quantum Frames
We propose and experimentally investigate a fibre-based quantum key
distribution system, which employs polarization qubits encoded into faint laser
pulses. As a novel feature, it allows sending of classical framing information
via sequences of strong laser pulses that precede the quantum data. This allows
synchronization, sender and receiver identification, and compensation of
time-varying birefringence in the communication channel. In addition, this
method also provides a platform to communicate implementation specific
information such as encoding and protocol in view of future optical quantum
networks. Furthermore, we report on our current effort to develop high-rate
error correction.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, 4 table