quantum memory
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NIST researchers store two images in a cloud of gas, open new possibilities for quantum memory
Physicists have already been able to store a single image in a cloud of rubidium gas, but researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland have now made a new breakthrough that could open up some new possibilities for quantum memory. As Technology Review's Physics arXiv blog reports, they've managed to store two sequential images in the cloud (not to be confused with "the cloud") and retrieve (or view) them at different times with about 90 percent accuracy -- something that could technically be called a movie. That was done using much the same technique that allows a single image to be stored in the gas, although storing multiple images apparently has the side effect of causing them to be retrieved in the reverse order of how they went in. As TR notes, however, even with that quirk, this new method could give rubidium gas a leg up over something like holographic storage, which has only been able to store and retrieve multiple images at the same time.
Caltech research could lead to quantum hard drives, networks, parallel universes
Quantum anything has typically fallen into our oft-used category of 'awesome things that'll never happen,' but if a crew of researchers at the California Institute of Technology have anything to say about it, they'll soon be changing the fortunes of that segment. The team has recently demonstrated quantum entanglement for a quantum state stored in four spatially distinct atomic memories, and while that probably just blew your mind a little bit, the breakdown is fairly interesting. Essentially, they've uncovered a quantum interface between the atomic memories, which is said to "represent something akin to a computer hard drive for entanglement." If extended, it could pave the way toward quantum networks, and in turn, massive webs of quantum computers. We're obviously decades out from understanding what this all means for the common computer user, but just remember this: "for an entangled quantum system, there exists no objective physical reality for the system's properties." And you thought The Matrix was deep.
