By Peter Weiss
By implanting tiny atomic clusters in a commonplace electronic component, researchers have created a device that may hasten the arrival of exotic technologies that rely on quantum mechanics.
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The new device is a type of light-emitting diode, or LED, the class of tiny, lamps found widely in electronic items and increasingly in electric equipment ranging from on-off switches to bus taillights. What sets the new LED apart is that it consistently emits a single photon of light in response to a single tiny electrical pulse.