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Quantum optics

Kittens catch phase

Nature volume 450, pages 362–363 (2007)Cite this article

The most sensitive phase-measuring instrument yet uses quantum trickery and a scaled-down version of the notorious Schrödinger's cat. It means that more sensitive devices for metrology and imaging could be on the way.

Elsewhere in this issue, a group of Australian researchers (Higgins et al., page 393)1 reports the construction of the most sensitive optical interferometer yet. At the heart of this success lies a cunning use of quantum feedback to minimize photon phase noise in the device — a technique that could have applications in imaging, remote sensing, gravity-wave detection and spectroscopy.

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Figure 1: Towards the Heisenberg limit.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jonathan P. Dowling is at the Hearne Institute for Theoretical Physics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA. jdowling@lsu.edu ,

    Jonathan P. Dowling

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  1. Jonathan P. Dowling
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Dowling, J. Kittens catch phase. Nature 450, 362–363 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/450362b

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