Distributed by Films Media Group, 132 West 31st St., 17th Floor, New York, NY 10001; 800-257-5126Produced by Sabrina Maniscalco, Marco TumbioloDirected by Marco Tumbiolo2012, DVD, color, 41 min. Quantum theory is one of the crowning achievements of twentieth century physics, but it's also one of the least understandable to the layperson. Unfortunately, this film requires repeated viewings for the viewer to glean any understanding of light or quantum physics. A team of European researchers, including the 2012 winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, is introduced one at a time over heroic music that would not be out of place in a blockbuster superhero movie. Since most scientists are not native English speakers, the subtitles are essential. These scientists are enthusiastic about their work, and they thoughtfully gaze at and show off equipment in their laboratories. What is the goal of all this activity and what does the behavior they observe tell us about the universe? Fragments of research are described, but no systematic connection is drawn among them nor is there an explanation of how it supports quantum physics. Prof. Serge Haroche, co-winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics, talks about his work studying the interaction of matter and light. His interview from 26:36 to 31:07 is the most illuminating segment, with background and history missing in most of the film. In other sections, counterintuitive quantum phenomena are described, e.g., a light can be on and off simultaneously or an atom can go right and left at the same time, without further explanation. In the new field of quantum computing a bit can be zero and one simultaneously, but why is this useful? The phenomenon of entanglement appears halfway through the film with only a little discussion of what it is and why it's important to these researchers. There is a great deal of lovely classical music as we hear at different times strings, a piano, a sublime vocal duet from the opera Lakme, and Papageno and Papagena from The Magic Flute. In one sequence, a photon is pronounced dead, and we hear part of Mozart's Requiem Mass. There are many lovely visual sequences, but they don't always relate to what is being described. The film was sponsored by the Finnish Cultural Foundation Science Workshop on Entanglement. According to the director's web site, "The documentary tells one of the mysteries that have fascinated humanity since the beginning, that is the nature of light." The film little more than whets the viewer's appetite for more explanation and context.
Distributed by Films Media Group, 132 West 31st St., 17th Floor, New York, NY 10001; 800-257-5126Produced by Sabrina Maniscalco, Marco TumbioloDirected by Marco Tumbiolo2012, DVD, color, 41 min. Quantum theory is one of the crowning achievements of twentieth century physics, but it's also one of the least understandable to the layperson. Unfortunately, this film requires repeated viewings for the viewer to glean any understanding of light or quantum physics. A team of European researchers, including the 2012 winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, is introduced one at a time over heroic music that would not be out of place in a blockbuster superhero movie. Since most scientists are not native English speakers, the subtitles are essential. These scientists are enthusiastic about their work, and they thoughtfully gaze at and show off equipment in their laboratories. What is the goal of all this activity and what does the behavior they observe tell us about the universe? Fragments of research are described, but no systematic connection is drawn among them nor is there an explanation of how it supports quantum physics. Prof. Serge Haroche, co-winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics, talks about his work studying the interaction of matter and light. His interview from 26:36 to 31:07 is the most illuminating segment, with background and history missing in most of the film. In other sections, counterintuitive quantum phenomena are described, e.g., a light can be on and off simultaneously or an atom can go right and left at the same time, without further explanation. In the new field of quantum computing a bit can be zero and one simultaneously, but why is this useful? The phenomenon of entanglement appears halfway through the film with only a little discussion of what it is and why it's important to these researchers. There is a great deal of lovely classical music as we hear at different times strings, a piano, a sublime vocal duet from the opera Lakme, and Papageno and Papagena from The Magic Flute. In one sequence, a photon is pronounced dead, and we hear part of Mozart's Requiem Mass. There are many lovely visual sequences, but they don't always relate to what is being described. The film was sponsored by the Finnish Cultural Foundation Science Workshop on Entanglement. According to the director's web site, "The documentary tells one of the mysteries that have fascinated humanity since the beginning, that is the nature of light." The film little more than whets the viewer's appetite for more explanation and context.
Distributed by Films Media Group, PO Box 2053, Princeton, New Jersey 08543-2053; 800-257-5126Produced by Films for the Humanities and SciencesDirector n/a2006, DVD, color, 59 min. Scientific theories often are developed through sharing and debate. The Copenhagen Interpretation: Quantum Physics vs. Relativity, brings this process of introduction and improvement to life. The film is well-organized and well-executed. It begins with an engaging summary and then circles back to cover who the key players were, what they believed, and why it matters now. Primary sources such as voice recordings, newspaper clippings and direct quotes ("Let them believe in their tranquilizing religion; an inner voice tells me that it's not yet the real thing," says Albert Einstein) lend the content a sense of immediacy, and the scientists who provide context speak with clarity, precision and passion. The strength of this film lies in its ability to convey the richness of the process through which science advances. Viewers who watch from start to finish will be drawn in by the vigorous discussion inspired by Bohr's theory of quantum mechanics. His ideas were disputed by some of his peers, and their arguments helped him understand where clarification was needed. The film is not suited to segmented viewing in the classroom. Because it is not divided into chapters, instructors who wish to illustrate a point with a video clip will have to fast-forward and scan. In addition, it occasionally fails to provide a simple explanation for its science. For example, animated graphics clearly demonstrate Bohr's supposition that the act of measuring one particle affects the state of another particle--but the voice accompanying the graphics does not explain why this would happen. The Copenhagen Interpretation is recommended for students in senior high and college because it will give them a glimpse of the process of scientific development. It is so engaging that it may even inspire them to participate in the process themselves.
Distributed by Films Media Group, PO Box 2053, Princeton, New Jersey 08543-2053; 800-257-5126Produced by Derek Diorio/Electric SkyDirected by Chris Mullington2009, DVD, color, 52 min. This video attempts to provide a complete and popular (i.e. non-mathematical) survey of quantum physics from Schrödinger to the present day including quantum computation, wave/particle duality, entanglement, superposition, the EPR Paradox, Schrödinger’s Cat, the double slit experiment, and the “noisy observer effect”, all in 52 minutes. And that is precisely the problem. As the DVD case notes state, these topics “flash by like mile markers on this high-speed journey to the realm of quantum teleportation, quantum cryptography, and quantum computing.” Unfortunately, the mile markers are flashing by too quickly for anyone not already familiar with these advanced and often puzzling principles and will be oversimplified for anyone who is conversant with quantum theories. Hence, it is difficult to establish an audience for this video. There is a dizzying array of 18 quantum scientists narrating the video, making it difficult to concentrate on what they are saying, especially since most of them seem intent on speaking as fast as possible. The first three quarters of the video uses rapid cuts and dazzling graphics to the point that it seemed more like a music video than an instructional one. This reviewer is sympathetic to attempts to appeal to student culture, but the extremely fast cuts were unwatchable and incomprehensible at times. A great deal of effort was spent in developing some truly clever illustrations of these principles, using both live action and animation. If each mini-segment could have been slowed down to half its speed and expanded to provide a more thorough explanation, then each segment on its own could have been excellent. Just from the credits at the end of the video, a large production team clearly spent a lot of time making the video. Ironically, the best segment of the entire video is at the very end where it slows down significantly and focuses on quantum computing and its possible applications that could transform our science and our society. Instructors interested in a good, simple introduction to quantum computing might want to preview this last portion to see if it would be suitable for their needs. Public performance rights are included.
We observe non destructively photons trapped in a high Q cavity, generate quantum fields in “Schrödinger cat” like states and study their decoherence. Application of these studies to the processing of quantum information will be discussed. 150-word Biography: Serge Haroche, born in 1944 in Casablanca, graduated from Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), receiving his doctorate from Paris VI University in 1971. After a post-doctoral visit to Stanford University (1972-73), he became full professor at Paris VI University in 1975, a position he held until 2001, when he was appointed Professor at Collège de France. Since September 2012, he is the President (Administrateur) of this institution. Haroche’s research has mostly taken place in the laboratory Kastler Brossel at ENS. His main research activities have been in quantum optics and quantum information science. He has made important contributions to Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics (Cavity QED), the domain of quantum optics which studies the behaviour of atoms interacting strongly with the field confined in a high-Q cavity. An atom-photon system isolated from the outside world by metallic walls realizes a very simple experimental model which Serge Haroche and his team have used to test fundamental aspects of quantum physics such as state superposition, entanglement, complementarity and decoherence. Serge Haroche has received many prizes and awards, culminating in the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics, shared with David Wineland. Article not available.
When Thought Experiments Become RealThe world is made of atoms which emit, absorb and scatter light, the crucial vehicle of the information we receive from our environment. At the beginning of the last century, quantum theory revealed the strange laws which govern matter and radiation on a microscopic scale, in a counter-intuitive world where notions of wave and particle are intimately intertwined.Light is both a continuous wave and a set of discrete photons! This “strange” physics is founde...
On October 9, 2012, the Royal Swedish Academy of Science announced the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics: Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland. They were awarded this prestigious prize for their innovative techniques that achieved the first nondestructive observations of quantum events. Though Haroche and Wineland worked individually to accomplish this spectacular feat, their novel methods have similarities that ultimately led to complementary results. With lessons learned from these experiments, time is measured more precisely and the future for quantum computing looks brighter.
Much of our present understanding of the microscopic world is based on quantum mechanics. The field owes much of its existence to the venerable science of optics, since the fundamental ideas on the nature of the interaction between light and matter lie at the roots of its origin. We have now reached one century of quantum mechanics. In contrast, the splendid blossoming of quantum optics began only after the comparatively recent invention of the laser. Since then, it has become an exciting and always expanding area at the cutting-edge of research, in part because theory and experiment are more closely connected in this field than any other. Moreover, the technological distance between fundamental studies and practical applications has always been very short in quantum optics. As a result, modern engineering is increasingly based on quantum rather than classical physics; we are facing a transition similar to the one society confronted 200 years ago, at the start of the Industrial Revolution. In parallel with this, the physics community is witnessing the recent and vigorous emergence of quantum information. It aims at exploring the physical foundations of information and at developing efficient methods for processing quantum information. The questions driving this field reveal a profound change in attitude towards fundamental aspects of quantum theory. The photon turns out to be a tool extremely well suited to exploring theoretical quantum information schemes and their experimental implementations. Mirroring this continued progress has been the growth and development of the series of annual Central European Workshops on Quantum Optics (CEWQO). The series started at the beginning of the 1990s, as rather small meetings of physicists from a few countries in central-eastern Europe. In two decades, the workshops have transformed into important events that reach well beyond the original rather restricted geographical limits. The history of CEWQOs can be found in the preface to the proceedings of the 15th CEWQO ( Physica Scripta 2009 T135 011005 ). The 18th edition of CEWQO (CEWQO11) was held in Madrid in 2011. There were about 250 participants, from practically every European country. Many colleagues from other continents also joined the event, including well-established researchers in the field. This is a clear demonstration that these meetings provide an excellent chance to hear about the latest results and new directions of research. The organization of CEWQO11 was carried out by a committee consisting of members active in this topic in Madrid. From Universidad Complutense, Alberto Galindo and Luis L Sánchez-Soto; from Universidad Autónoma, Jose Calleja and Carlos Tejedor; from Universidad Politécnica, Enrique Calleja; from Universidad Carlos III, Alberto Ibort; and from the National Research Council (CSIC), Juan León and Juan J García-Ripoll. Special thanks go to the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation, Universidad Complutense and the Quitemad Consortium for financial support. The proceedings of the 16th CEWQO held at the University of Turku, Finland and the 17th CEWQO held at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK are also available ( Physica Scripta 2010 T140 and Physica Scripta 2011 T143 ). The present Topical Issue is a collection of papers presented in Madrid; they represent an illustrative sample of the major achievements and trends in this area. In turn, they reflect the wide range of interests in this rapidly evolving field. Some collaborators from different scientific centres who could not, due to different reasons, come to Madrid, but participated in previous CEWQOs and plan to participate in future CEWQOs, also contributed to this issue. The papers are arranged alphabetically by the name of the first author. Special thanks goes to Roger Wäppling, the Managing Editor of Physica Scripta , and Graeme Watt, the Publisher, for the opportunity to publish CEWQO11. From a Physica Scripta Editorial Board meeting it was decided that Physica Scripta could offer a poster prize (200 euros + certificate) for young scientists (less than 30 years old) at the annual CEWQO conference. A panel of experts was formed to judge the posters which included Apostol Vourdas, University of Bradford, UK (Chairman), Alberto Ibort, University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain, Andrei Klimov, University of Guadalajara, Mexico, Margarita A Man'ko, P N Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow, Russia and Antonino Messina, University of Palermo, Italy. The poster ''How can we check the uncertainty relation?'' by Vladimir Chernega, PhD student of the P N Lebedev Physical Institute, won the prize. The 19th Central European Workshop on Quantum Optics will be held in Sinaia, Romania on 2–6 July 2012. It will be chaired by Professor Aurelian Isar from the Horia Hulubei National Institute for Research and Development in Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest.