'Plucking' Light Particles from Laser Beams Could Advance Quantum Computing

A novel method for "plucking" individual particles of light out of a laser pulse could lead to major breakthroughs in quantum computing, researchers say. Using a combination of supercooled atoms and cutting-edge optical technology, physicists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel were able to extract a single photon from a beam of light. Individual photons are of great interest to physicists because they are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics rather than the rules of classical