I know very little... Could you dumb it down for me if you know about it?
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The quantum zeno effect is one of the stranger and more fascinating consequences of quantum mechanics. It offers a surprising and counterintuitive way of controlling quantum systems that are changing from one state to another.
Imagine a photon in state 0 which has a certain probability of decaying into state 1. Now carry out a series of periodic measurements on the photon. Between the measurements, the photon evolves into a superposition 0 and 1 states and a measurement will cause it collapse into one or other of these.
However, if the time between the measurements is small, the chances of it collapsing to form a 1 are smaller than the chances of it becoming a 0. And if the periodic measurements are made rapidly enough, the probability of a measurement producing a 1 tends to zero.
In effect, the process of repeated measurement prevents the photon decaying from a 0 to a 1. That's the quantum zeno effect, sometimes also called the watched-pot-never-boils effect.
Now Huang and co have come up with a scheme that exploits this effect to create a switch. The basic idea is to take a signal wave in state 0 which will decay or evolve into a 1 when it passes it through a nonlinear waveguide.
However, Huang and pals point out that measuring the wave will prevent this evolution. They say they can perform this "measurement" by making the signal wave interact with another "control" wave.
Imagine a photon in state 0 which has a certain probability of decaying into state 1. Now carry out a series of periodic measurements on the photon. Between the measurements, the photon evolves into a superposition 0 and 1 states and a measurement will cause it collapse into one or other of these.
However, if the time between the measurements is small, the chances of it collapsing to form a 1 are smaller than the chances of it becoming a 0. And if the periodic measurements are made rapidly enough, the probability of a measurement producing a 1 tends to zero.
In effect, the process of repeated measurement prevents the photon decaying from a 0 to a 1. That's the quantum zeno effect, sometimes also called the watched-pot-never-boils effect.
Now Huang and co have come up with a scheme that exploits this effect to create a switch. The basic idea is to take a signal wave in state 0 which will decay or evolve into a 1 when it passes it through a nonlinear waveguide.
However, Huang and pals point out that measuring the wave will prevent this evolution. They say they can perform this "measurement" by making the signal wave interact with another "control" wave.