QuantumWire

Researchers at the Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Light and Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia,  have demonstrated spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) for the first time in a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal phase, using it as a source of entangled photons. It marks the first instance of SPDC outside of solid materials. By applying an electric field of just a few Volts, researchers were able to switch the generation of photon pairs on and off, as well as to change the polarization properties of these pairs. This advancement paves the way for developing efficient and electric-field tunable next-generation quantum sources. The study has been recently published in Nature.