URL: Quantum Physics

Quantum Physics News

Saturday, October 17, 2026

• Quantum magic state cleanup cuts errors 40-fold in first successful hardware test
  Qubits, the quantum equivalent of digital bits, are fragile and prone to errors. That makes building reliable quantum computers extremely difficult. One fix has been to use traditional magic state distillation, which filters out flaws, but it is extremely resource-intensive.
  

Friday, October 16, 2026

• New high-frequency method boosts 2D material readout for next-gen quantum computers
  Quantum computers represent a next step in the fast-paced evolution of technology. Using quantum bits (qubits), they have the potential to run certain calculations exponentially faster than conventional computers. However, developing and fine-tuning quantum computers requires an enormous number of repetitive tests. To accelerate quantum technology development, we need a method that can read quantum states at ultrafast speeds.
  
• A highway instead of a racetrack: Strong coupling of light and sound in an optical fiber
  For the first time, scientists have achieved strong coupling between light and long-lived acoustic vibrations in an optical fiber. Optical fibers are used in both classical telecommunications and quantum communication and could serve not only as connections between computing nodes but also as quantum processors themselves in the future. The results, published in Nature Physics, pave the way for new technologies in quantum signal processing.
  
• Even or odd numbers: A single molecule makes all the difference in the quantum world
  The researchers in the Quantum Detection Microscopy group at CIC nanoGUNE, in collaboration with chemists at CiQUS of the University of Santiago de Compostela, have demonstrated that adding or removing a single molecule from a quantum chain can fundamentally change its interaction with a superconductor.
  

Thursday, October 15, 2026

• Silicon qubits surpass 99.99% gate fidelity while operating three at once
  Silicon spin qubits are a promising platform for building scalable quantum computers as they are compatible with the semiconductor manufacturing technologies used to produce today's computer chips. However, they have an important weakness: silicon spin qubits typically lose accuracy when several qubits are under parallel control. To be useful, quantum computers will need to operate many qubits simultaneously without compromising the accuracy of their operations.
  
• Quantum calculations reveal how spin defects lose energy
  When light hits a tiny defect embedded in a solid material like diamond or silicon carbide, it can kick the defect's electrons into an excited state. These spin defects have the potential to be used as stable, readable qubits for quantum technologies, for example, quantum sensing. But modeling the full physics of their energetics over time—a key step in developing spin defects into new technologies—is a challenging task.
  
• Quantum sensor could measure how Earth drags spacetime
  Einstein's theory of general relativity describes gravity as the bending of spacetime, a mathematical model that combines three-dimensional space and time into a single, four-dimensional continuum. The theory also predicts that a rotating object, such as Earth, slightly drags the surrounding spacetime as it rotates, a phenomenon known as frame-dragging.
  

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

• IBM executive warns of risk of quantum computing hacks
  Organizations are unprepared for the risks posed by quantum computing, IBM's Europe and Africa vice president Alessandro Curioni told AFP Wednesday, referring to the high-speed technology that could crack security encryptions and enable large-scale cyberattacks.
  
• Software advance brings complex quantum simulations to standard computers
  A major software advance could aid the creation of bigger, more reliable quantum computers, a study suggests. Researchers have developed an algorithm that enables off-the-shelf computers to run quantum simulations previously only possible using the world's most powerful supercomputers.
  
• A tiny magnetic whirlpool could point to a new kind of ultra-efficient memory
  Every time a computer stores or erases information, it uses energy. The amount is tiny for a single operation, but those operations happen billions of times every second. For decades, scientists have wondered just how little energy a memory device could use before reaching the fundamental theoretical limit set by the laws of physics. Now, researchers have shown that it is possible to come close.
  
• From spin wave to superconducting circuit: A one-way street for quantum information
  Quantum information systems could one day shape everyday life through faster computing, sharper sensing and more secure communication. A new result from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U. of I.) marks an important step toward enabling magnetic spins—a quantum property of matter that can be used to store and manipulate information—to play a role in the future of quantum information processing.
  
• Jamming the flow to enable memory in quantum materials
  Understanding and controlling phase transitions are fundamental to physics and central to many technological revolutions. There is currently strong interest in materials with coupled structural and electronic phase transitions, where controlling the transition plasticity naturally yields built-in memory—a key step in emulating neurons and synapses for "neuromorphic" or brain-like computing technologies.
  
• Quantum network test checks entanglement without having to trust detectors
  Quantum networks are systems that connect different users or devices using principles of quantum mechanics. In the future, these networks could help improve the security of communications.
  

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

• Ultrashort laser pulses offer a new way to probe electrons' quantum geometry
  Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the University of Regensburg have developed a method for determining, using light, a quantum property of electrons that has hitherto been difficult to access. The focus is on what is known as Berry curvature—a quantity that describes certain geometric properties of the quantum mechanical states of electrons. The researchers measured it in a layer of the semiconductor tungsten diselenide, just one atomic layer thick, using ultrashort laser pulses. The results have been published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Photonics.
  
• 'Carpet' growth method yields long-sought 2D quantum material
  For decades, physicists have sought a practical two-dimensional topological insulator: an ultrathin material whose interior blocks electricity but whose edges conduct it. In ordinary wires, electrons constantly bounce off imperfections, losing energy. But along the edges of a 2D topological insulator, electrons with opposite spins travel in opposite directions, like cars in one-way lanes, so they rarely scatter and lose energy.
  
• Faster molecular simulations identify promising diamond defects for quantum computers and sensors
  A faster way of finding the best diamond-based materials for quantum computers has been developed by a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). The new approach has already identified promising materials for practical quantum sensors and computers that could one day transform scientific research as a whole. The research was recently published in the journal ACS Central Science and has already garnered attention from other experts in the field.
  
• New topological microscope tip reveals evidence of 2D altermagnetism
  Researchers have fashioned a layered topological material into a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip that senses spin-related electronic states at atomic resolution.
  
• Quantum physicists trace a century of controlling spin
  A concept from the field of quantum mechanics, spin is a property of particles that has no direct counterpart in everyday experience. Since the early 20th century, researchers have learned to manipulate it deliberately by means of precisely shaped electromagnetic pulses. This has resulted in two technologies that are widespread today: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonplace in hospitals, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) is used to determine the structures of proteins and to develop new drugs. The mathematical framework of optimal control theory can be used to improve these technologies.
  

Monday, October 12, 2026

• Gravity and quantum information linked through a derivation of Einstein's equations
  Recent research shows that gravity and quantum information are deeply connected and that the shape of spacetime can be traced back to the way information is stored in quantum fields.
  
• Magnetic sculpting transforms single-source fields into predetermined shapes with mathematical precision
  Magnetic fields are invisible yet essential components in technologies ranging from MRI scanners and particle accelerators to atomic clocks and future quantum computers. Each of these applications requires magnetic fields with specific shapes and properties. Today, creating such tailored magnetic fields requires researchers and engineers to design specialized, carefully optimized magnets or large systems of coils for each individual application—a complex and resource-intensive process.
  
• One step closer to quantum computers that can correct their own mistakes
  Researchers from Rutgers, IBM and collaborating institutions have shown that a quantum computer can check what is happening inside it and respond while it is running, repeatedly resetting parts of the system to bring chaotic behavior under control.
  
• Hybrid quantum computers could finally get to grips with light and matter
  Many of nature's most important processes depend on how particles of matter interact with light and other force-carrying particles. So far, however, it has proven difficult for conventional computers to determine how individual particles behave in these interactions.
  

Sunday, October 11, 2026

• Quantum 'birthmarks' hold lasting traces of a system's past
  Some classical physical systems can explore many configurations over time until their long-term behavior no longer reveals their starting conditions. The sampling of available configurations according to the appropriate statistical distribution is a property called ergodicity.
  

Saturday, October 10, 2026

• Ultraviolet laser pulses engineer diamond defects selectively, leaving quantum qubits intact
  When we think about a diamond, we often think about a material whose value comes from its perfection. In my research, however, I am interested in something almost opposite: the tiny imperfections inside diamonds. These atomic-scale defects can give diamonds new optical and electronic properties, and some of them can serve as quantum systems. The challenge is learning how to control these defects without disturbing the others.
  
• New stability rules distinguish quantum phases of matter that an older method wrongly groups together
  Most of us recognize basic phases of matter and their properties: solids maintain their shape, liquids flow freely with constant volume, and gases expand to fill their container. Quantum phases, on the other hand, are much harder to categorize, overturning traditional notions of what a phase even is and forcing physicists to rethink their definitions.
  
• Hybrid quantum computer observes foundational quantum effect in a new setting
  Physicists in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford have used a hybrid quantum computer, made up of qubits and quantum oscillators, to observe the Aharonov–Bohm effect in a quantum simulation. The effect is a quantum phenomenon in which a particle can acquire a measurable phase by traveling around a magnetic flux, even though it never passes through a region where a magnetic field is present.
  

Friday, October 9, 2026

• Three quantum-inspired cores leave opposite fingerprints on the ringing of black holes
  Every black hole hides a question at its center. Einstein's theory predicts that whatever falls in is crushed into a singularity, a point of infinite density where the theory itself breaks down. Most physicists expect quantum gravity to replace that point with something finite. But the center lies hidden behind the horizon. How could we ever learn what is there?
  
• Quantum chip holds multiple photons at once, opening path to scalable memory
  For highly fragile quantum information systems, the ability to store quantum information is vital—but also challenging. Quantum information is transported in particles of light called photons, which often must be temporarily paused (or "stored") while other, slower quantum operations catch up. This storage must be performed on microchips as small as 1 centimeter (0.4 inches)—a distance covered by light in a few trillionths of a second. Storing photons for a microsecond would represent a massive leap forward for the capabilities of quantum chips.
  
• Light reads electron spins inside porous crystals, opening path to quantum chemical sensors
  University of Glasgow researchers are part of an international collaboration that could lead to a new generation of quantum sensors. The team, which included researchers from the University of Tokyo, University of Glasgow, University of Sheffield and Kobe University, has for the first time used light to read out the magnetic spin of electrons trapped inside a porous crystalline material known as a metal-organic framework (MOF).
  
• Ultrafast core-level spectroscopy reveals elusive precursors of exciton condensation in quantum materials
  Many fascinating phases in quantum materials emerge when electrons, atoms and other microscopic components begin to act collectively. But these phases do not necessarily appear out of nowhere when a material crosses a transition temperature. Before long-range order develops, microscopic fluctuations can already be present.