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Arizona-Led Team Controls Quantum Uncertainty in Real Time With Ultrafast Squeezed Light

Using a three-beam four-wave-mixing setup in fused silica, the researchers generated tunable femtosecond pulses in a peer-reviewed study in Light: Science & Applications.

Overview

  • Study authors report the first demonstration of ultrafast squeezed light and the first real-time measurement and control of quantum uncertainty with attosecond resolution.
  • The method splits a laser into three identical beams focused into fused silica, enabling intensity squeezing and switching to phase squeezing via tiny angle or position adjustments.
  • Measurements tracked phase and amplitude quadrature dynamics, showing that the uncertainty distribution can be tuned on ultrafast timescales.
  • The team applied the technique to quantum communication, reporting a petahertz-scale protocol that encodes data on squeezed waveforms to hinder eavesdropping and flag intrusions.
  • The work, led by Mohammed Hassan with collaborators in Spain and Germany, is presented as a proof-of-concept with potential for advanced sensing, chemistry, biology, and diagnostics.