As described in the News & Views section of the issue, “More futuristic applications of single photon states include photonic networks designed to achieve scalable quantum computation, which one day will hopefully solve problems exponentially faster than classical computers.”

Strauf also was interviewed by the publication regarding his work on the project. “The traditional approach to generating single photons is to use weak laser pulses. In order to reach the single-photon level, you have to attenuate the light very strongly, limiting the efficiency of the device. Also, the photons emitted are governed by statistics. What we need is a high-efficiency source where we can generate photons one by one. Luckily, nature provides a solution in the form of the two-level system, just like the one we use: self-assembled quantum dots,” said Strauf.

Strauf’s coauthors on the paper are Nick G. Stoltz (Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara); Matthew T. Rakher (Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara); Larry A. Coldren (Materials Department and the ECE department, University of California, Santa Barbara); Pierre M. Petroff (Materials Department and the ECE department, University of California, Santa Barbara); and Dirk Bouwmeester (Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara and Huygens Laboratory, Leiden University, the Netherlands).

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value. Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,040 undergraduate and 3,085 graduate students, and a worldwide online enrollment of 2,250, with about 400 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.

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