Scientists control quantum dot behavior

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they have discovered a new method of using resonant lasers to control the behavior of quantum dots.

The researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Joint Quantum Institute -- a collaborative center of the University of Maryland and NIST -- say their new technology fine-tunes the light coming from quantum dots by manipulating them with pairs of lasers.

The scientists said their technique could significantly improve quantum dots as a source of pairs of "entangled" photons, a property with important applications in quantum information technologies. They said the finding might accelerate development of powerful advanced cryptography applications, projected to be a key 21st-century technology.

Quantum dots are nanoscale regions of a semiconductor material similar to the material in computer processors, but with special properties due to their tiny dimensions.

The research is presented in the journal Physical Review Letters.