Quantum Control of Light

Project funded by Carlsberg Foundation (Semper Ardens: Advance), grant CF18-1115. Participating organisations named by the source: Aarhus University; AU Aarhus University. Runs n/a to 2026-08-30. Source: OpenAIRE Graph, from the funder's project data (collected by OpenAIRE on 2025-08-01); national funding data, not CORDIS. Abstract given by the source: What? Transmission and detection of light are widely applied in physical sciences and have become key elements in modern communication and information technologies. Much of these achievements derive from the fact that photons – the elementary quanta of light – are normally devoid of interactions and can therefore carry information in virtually ideal fashion. Yet, the possibility to induce interactions between photons, like the ones between electrons in electronic circuits, may have profound implications and open up new horizons for science and technology. The present project aims at reaching this ultimate form of optical control, that will make it possible to manipulate and even build up light quantum by quantum. Why? Quantum effects, such as coherence, superposition and entanglement constitute the underlying principles for future optical technologies that may, for example, enable quantum-enhanced imaging, fundamentally secure communication and quantum computing. All of this requires the quantum control of light, i.e. the ability to generate and manipulate light at the level of single photons. With the inherent lack of photon interactions, reaching such capabilities has remained an outstanding scientific challenge and constitutes the central goal of the present project. At the same time, systems of strongly interacting photons hold great potential for discovering entirely new forms of light and advancing our understanding of collective quantum phenomena in a largely uncharted regime of optical science. How? The project brings together the joint efforts of theoretical and experimental groups at Aarhus University and the University of Southern Denmark to develop, realise and utilise a unique approach to photon-photon interactions. It is based on a special optical medium in which photons propagate a million times slower than the original speed of light and excite atoms so they become several thousand times larger than their normal size. Our research will harness this [shortened; the full text is on the OpenAIRE page]

Original source.

Source: OpenAIRE Graph: projects of national funders, OpenAIRE, from the project data of Carlsberg Foundation. Retrieved 2026-11-02. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (OpenAIRE Graph). Selected metadata, adapted presentation; the publisher's record is authoritative. No endorsement by the source is implied. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

AI-assisted summary: The project "Quantum Control of Light" is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation and involves Aarhus University, running until August 30, 2026. It aims to explore the manipulation of photons to enhance communication and information technologies. Suggested technology pillar: communication. Generated by AI from the public source text; it may contain errors and the original source is authoritative.