Three photons bind together to make a ‘molecule’ of light – Physics World

Hamish Johnston

The photon triplets were made by firing laser light into an atomic gas and the researchers believe that their technique could be useful for creating entangled photons for quantum-information systems. Propagating polariton Their technique involves the light creating a “Rydberg polariton” in the atomic gas. Instead, and under certain conditions, the index of refraction of the gas near the Rydberg polariton is modified such that other photons will bunch-up with the polariton. This is effectively an attractive interaction between photons that creates molecules of light. The team is now looking at how it could create repulsive interactions between photons.

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