International Cat Day
History
Happy International Cat Day!
On 8 August, each year, we celebrate all Opticats - whether they're alive, dead or cute.
Join us on the catwalk as we explore all of the pawsitively amazing ways cats pop up in optics - as the foundation for quantum mechanics, a visual effect, inspiration for new technology or as a fluffy friend sprawled across your keyboard.
Photo Contest
Schrödinger’s Neon Cat
This is a neon glow lamp, with 2 electrodes separated by a few mm, one behind the other. Set the voltage below threshold for initiating a discharge, but above threshold for sustaining a discharge, and eventually some ionizing radiation will initiate a discharge. The mean time to light up is consistent with initiation from cosmic ray muons, based on the known muon flux at sea level. It's like Schrodinger's cat in reverse: the cat comes alive when the muon strikes.
Dan Deptuck, CMC Microsystems, Ontario, Canada
Research News
Quantum Cheshire cat: a physically realistic interpretation by invoking entangled correlations
Can a Cheshire cat really leave its grin behind?
The Quantum Cheshire Cat phenomenon suggests a particle can be separated from its physical properties—like a photon traveling down one path while its polarization appears on another.
Using an engineered Mach–Zehnder interferometer and entangled photons, researchers showed that polarization is never actually stripped from the photon. Instead, it becomes temporarily "dormant" and inaccessible along specific paths under precise conditions.
Research News
Remote switch for Schrödinger’s cat state using Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entanglement
In quantum optics, a "Schrödinger’s cat state" represents a superposition of macroscopically distinct optical fields—existing simultaneously in two opposite states.
Using Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) entanglement, researchers demonstrated a remote quantum switch that can dynamically manipulate and toggle a Schrödinger’s cat state from a distance, opening new possibilities for distributed quantum computing and communication networks.
Photo Contest
Cat's Eye Hanging in Air
Captured in the Valencia College Precision Optics, Photonics, and Fiber lab in Osceola County, FL, USA, this image depicts the focal point generated by a transmission sphere in a Fizeau interferometer. Commonly called the "cat's eye" position by opticians and metrologists measuring the radius of an optics, the focal point of the HeNe laser is visible due to scattering from artificial fog.
James Nathan, Waymack and Crew, Valencia College, Orlando, FL, USA
