New Semiconductor Detector can Identify Radioactive Isotopes with High Resolution Written by AZoOpticsDec 8 2020 In groundbreaking new research, an international team of researchers led by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has developed a unique process for producing a quantum state that is part light and part matter. The discovery provides fundamental new insights for more efficiently developing the next generation of quantum-based optical and electronic devices. The research could also have an impact on increasing efficiency of nanoscale chemical reactions. The research is published in Nature Photonics, a high-impact, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Springer Nature Publishing Group. Quantum science studies natural phenomena of light and matter at the smallest scales. In this study, the researchers developed a unique process in which they achieved "ultrastrong coupling" between infrared light (photons) and matter (atomic vibrations) by trapping light in tiny, annular holes in a thin layer of gold.