Chance Effect of Lab's Fluorescent Lights Leads to Discovery (IMAGE)

Penn State

Chance Effect of Lab's Fluorescent Lights Leads to Discovery

Caption

An accidental discovery of a "quantum Etch-a-Sketch" may lead to the next generation of advanced computers and quantum microchips. The research lab's fluorescent lights generated surprising effects with potentially important impacts -- a new way of using beams of light to draw and erase quantum-mechanical circuits. This artist's drawing illustrates optically-defined quantum circuits in a topological insulator.

Credit

Peter Allen

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