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IN CHEMISTRY? • Chemistry helps Alvin and Jason Jr. explore R.M.S.
Titanic. • An easy way to make diamond films. • Bringing atoms and molecules into view. I Ancient water helps tell time. • The chemical basis of memory. I New approaches to cancer therapy. • Solar-powered pesticides. • Key bacterial toxin discovered. I Organic chemicals challenge silicon's reign as king of semiconductors.
These are among the most interesting and promising areas of chemical research discussed in the new edition of WHAT'S HAPPENING IN CHEMISTRY?, the American Chemical Society's annual compendium of reports from the cutting edge of the chemical sciences.
This award winning booklet is researched and written by Joseph Alper, a biochemist by training and one of the nation's outstanding science writers. WHAT'S HAPPENING IN CHEMISTRY? is prepared for nontechnical readers. Anyone can be entertained and enlightened by its nearly two dozen articles. Paperbound copy $4.00 each
Woods Hole Océanographie Institution photo by Rod Catanach
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ing methods such as this could be extended to unique applications such as measurement in hostile envi ronments . He adds t h a t these techniques could be applied in all areas of t he spect rum, not jus t the infrared. Fur the rmore , the technologies envisioned could, in Nes-bi t t ' s words, " t rans la te into any absorption technique t h a t is l imited by shot noise."
Fred Lytle of P u r d u e University, an expert in t he field of spectroscopy, suggests t h a t because solution applications would experience overtone problems a t the sensitivities described, initial efforts in applying squeezed light should be in nonsolution areas. In particular, he cites methods for gett ing absorption spectra of ion beams in mass spectrometers . Other examples of possible future uses include two-dimensional techniques such as gas chromatography and laser absorpt ion (sugges ted by N e s b i t t ) . M o r e u n u s u a l applications are also possible. At S tanford University, David Bloom is using picosecond laser pulses to tes t circuit pa thways in microchips and is operating a t the shot-noise limit. Because Slusher has already demons t ra ted the feasibility of pulsed squeezed light, work such as Bloom's could conceivably benefit.
T h e lack of progress in generat ing squeezed s ta tes for many years kep t sc ient is ts from envis ioning poss ible uses of this phenomenon. Now t h a t a working technology is closer t o reality, t h a t should change. In the near future, we can expect scientists from many fields to propose novel squeezed-l ight applications. T h a t process will feed back to optics researchers, and great things will undoubted ly ensue. Stay tuned . Don Cunningham
References
(1) Slusher, R. E.; Hollberg, L. W.; Yurke, B.; Mertz, J. C ; Valley, J. F. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1985,55, 2409.
(2) Wu, L.-A.; Kimble, H. J.; Hall, J. L.; Wu, H. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1986,57, 2520-3.
(3) Xiao, M.; Wu, L.-A.; Kimble, H. J. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1987,59, 278-81.
(4) Slusher, R. E.; Grangier, P.; LaPorta, Α.; Yurke, B.; Potasek, M. J. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1987,59, 2566-9.
(5) Grangier, P.; Slusher, R. E.; Yurke, B.; LaPorta, A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1987, 59, 2153-6.
(6) Schumaker, B. L.; Perlmutter, S. H.; Shelby, R. M.; Levenson, M. D. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1987,58, 357.
(7) Levenson, M. D.; Shelby, R. M.; Reid, M.; Walls, D. F. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1986,57, 2473.
(8) Maeda, M. W.; Kumar, P.; Shapiro, J. H. Opt. Lett. 1987,12, 161.
Suggested reading J. Opt. Soc. Am. B., October 1987.
346 A . ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 60, NO. 5, MARCH 1, 1988
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