Now, by taking advantage of recent results in quantum optics, scientists are using very similar techniques to take new, more complete 3D images of molecules and even photons. They do this by reconstructing the interference pattern created by a single photon or molecule. The techniques give scientists the wave function of a system, a key to fully understanding the behavior of a system. Atom optics One rapidly growing area is atom optics, where scientists use atoms instead of photons to examine objects. Scientists are looking at atom optics to design more sensitive ways to detect gravity, or even to use atoms to help make computers chips.
Scientists think that atom microscopes, atom interferometers, and even atom lasers are possible.
Many laboratories are demonstrating a mechanism discovered not long ago at the University of Rochester to shift the spectrum of light as it travels through space. Most of the Symposium on Spectral Effects in Collective Phenomena is devoted to this topic. Using one beam to modulate or even improve another could have applications in optical computing, for instance, or in telecommunications or satellite communications, where laser beams must travel long distances through the atmosphere. Presenters of this work on transparency include Joe Eberly at Rochester, Klaus Bergmann of Germany, and Steve Harris at Stanford.