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Nature Physics 5, 455–456 (1 July 2009) | doi:10.1038/nphys1325

Cavity QED: Strength in numbers

Wolfgang Lange

At the most fundamental level, the interaction of light and matter is based on the exchange of energy between a single atomic oscillator and a single mode of the electromagnetic field. The process is of central importance to quantum information processing, as it provides an interface between two carriers of quantum information, that is, between stationary (atomic) and propagating (photonic) qubits.