URL: Quantum Physics

Quantum Physics News

Friday, December 12, 2025

• Atomic Josephson contacts: How Bose-Einstein condensates replicate Shapiro steps
  The microscopic processes taking place in superconductors are difficult to observe directly. Researchers at the RPTU University of Kaiserslautern-Landau have therefore implemented a quantum simulation of the Josephson effect: They separated two Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) by means of an extremely thin optical barrier.
  
• Pinpointing the glow of a single atom to advance quantum emitter engineering
  Researchers have discovered how to design and place single-photon sources at the atomic scale inside ultrathin 2D materials, lighting the path for future quantum innovations.
  

Thursday, December 11, 2025

• Tiny optical modulator could enable giant future quantum computers
  Researchers have made a major advance in quantum computing with a new device that is nearly 100 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
  
• Colloidal quantum dot photodiodes integrated on metasurfaces for compact SWIR sensors
  This week, at the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM 2025), imec, a research and innovation hub in advanced semiconductor technologies, successfully demonstrated the integration of colloidal quantum dot photodiodes (QDPDs) on metasurfaces developed on its 300 mm CMOS pilot line. This pioneering approach enables a scalable platform for the development of compact, miniaturized shortwave infrared (SWIR) spectral sensors, setting a new standard for cost-effective and high-resolution spectral imaging solutions.
  
• All-optical modulation in silicon achieved via an electron avalanche process
  Over the past decades, engineers have introduced numerous technologies that rely on light and its underlying characteristics. These include photonic and quantum systems that could advance imaging, communication and information processing.
  

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

• Theoretical results could lead to faster, more secure quantum technology
  University of Iowa researchers have discovered a method to "purify" photons, an advance that could make optical quantum technologies more efficient and more secure.
  
• New iron telluride thin film achieves superconductivity for quantum computer chips
  If quantum computing is going to become an every-day reality, we need better superconducting thin films, the hardware that enables storage and processing of quantum information. Too often, these thin films have impurities or other defects that make them useless for real quantum computer chips.
  
• Quantum machine learning nears practicality as partial error correction reduces hardware demands
  Imagine a future where quantum computers supercharge machine learning—training models in seconds, extracting insights from massive datasets and powering next-gen AI. That future might be closer than you think, thanks to a breakthrough from researchers at Australia's national research agency, CSIRO, and The University of Melbourne.
  
• Quantum clues to consciousness: New research suggests the brain may harness the zero-point field
  What if your conscious experiences were not just the chatter of neurons, but were connected to the hum of the universe? In a paper published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, I present new evidence indicating that conscious states may arise from the brain's capacity to resonate with the quantum vacuum—the zero-point field that permeates all of space.
  

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

• Surprising nanoscopic heat traps found in diamonds
  Diamond is famous in material science for being the best natural heat conductor on Earth—but new research reveals that, at the atomic scale, it can briefly trap heat in unexpected ways. The findings could influence how scientists design diamond-based quantum technologies, including ultra-precise sensors and future quantum computers.
  
• Electron-phonon interactions in crystals found to be quantized by a fundamental constant
  A researcher at the Department of Physics at Tohoku University has uncovered a surprising quantum phenomenon hidden inside ordinary crystals: the strength of interactions between electrons and lattice vibrations—known as phonons—is not continuous, but quantized. Even more remarkably, this strength is universally linked to one of the most iconic numbers in physics: the fine-structure constant.
  
• A new traveling-wave Josephson amplifier with built-in reverse isolation
  Traveling-wave parametric amplifiers (TWPAs) are electronic devices that boost weak microwave signals (i.e., electromagnetic waves with frequencies typically ranging between 1 and 100 GHz). Recently, many engineers have been developing TWPAs based on superconductors, materials that conduct electricity with a resistance of zero at low temperatures.
  
• From light to logic: Ultrafast quantum switching in 2D materials
  Scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay have found a way to use light to control and read tiny quantum states inside atom-thin materials. The simple technique could pave the way for computers that are dramatically faster and consume far less power than today's electronics.
  

Monday, December 8, 2025

• Expanding the search for quantum-ready 2D materials
  Quantum technologies from ultrasensitive sensors to next-generation information processors depend on the ability of quantum bits, or qubits, to maintain their delicate quantum states for a sufficiently long time to be useful.
  
• Quantifying unknown quantum states: Study explores effectiveness of existing methods
  Reliably quantifying and characterizing the quantum states of various systems is highly advantageous for both quantum physics research and the development of quantum technologies. Quantifying these states typically entails performing several measurements and reconstructing them via a process known as quantum-state tomography.
  
• Electrons stay put in layers of mismatched 'quantum Legos'
  Electrons can be elusive, but Cornell researchers using a new computational method can now account for where they go—or don't go—in certain layered materials.
  

Friday, December 5, 2025

• Rydberg-atom detector conquers a new spectral frontier
  A team from the Faculty of Physics and the Center for Quantum Optical Technologies at the Center of New Technologies, University of Warsaw has developed a new method for measuring elusive terahertz signals using a "quantum antenna."
  
• Shaping quantum light unlocks new possibilities for future technologies
  Researchers from the School of Physics at Wits University, working with collaborators from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, have demonstrated how quantum light can be engineered in space and time to create high-dimensional and multidimensional quantum states. Their work highlights how structured photons—light whose spatial, temporal or spectral properties are deliberately shaped—offer new pathways for high-capacity quantum communication and advanced quantum technologies.
  

Thursday, December 4, 2025

• Quantum technology moves from lab to life, but widespread use remains years away
  Quantum technology is accelerating out of the lab and into the real world, and a new article argues that the field now stands at a turning point—one that is similar to the early computing age that preceded the rise of the transistor and modern computing.
  
• LHC data confirm validity of new model of hadron production—and test foundations of quantum mechanics
  A boiling sea of quarks and gluons, including virtual ones—this is how we can imagine the main phase of high-energy proton collisions. It would seem that particles here have significantly more opportunities to evolve than when less numerous and much "better-behaved" secondary particles spread out from the collision point. However, data from the LHC accelerator prove that reality works differently, in a manner that is better described by an improved model of proton collisions.
  
• A solid-state quantum processor based on nuclear spins
  Quantum computers, systems that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, have the potential of outperforming classical systems on some tasks. Instead of storing information as bits, like classical computers, they rely on so-called qubits, units of information that can simultaneously exist in superpositions of 0 and 1.
  

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

• Deciphering the heavyweights of the tetraquark world
  The CMS collaboration reports the first measurement of the quantum properties of a family of tetraquarks that was recently discovered at the LHC.
  
• Pinning down spinless glueballs: New look at hidden structure inside subatomic particles
  SUNY Poly Professor of Physics Dr. Amir Fariborz recently published a paper in Physical Review D titled "Spinless glueballs in generalized linear sigma model." The work takes on a central challenge in modern physics: understanding how the strongest force in nature shapes the inner structure of matter, and how it may produce an unusual form of matter made entirely from the carriers of that force.
  
• Terahertz device sets performance record and opens new quantum horizons
  A prototype device that has demonstrated record-breaking longevity could help open up new frontiers in next-generation communications and computing technologies.
  

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

• New levitating sensors could pave way to dark matter detection and quantum sensing
  A new type of sensor that levitates dozens of glass microparticles could revolutionize the accuracy and efficiency of sensing, laying the foundation for better autonomous vehicles, navigation and even the detection of dark matter.
  
• Scientists advance quantum signaling with twisted light technology
  A tiny device that entangles light and electrons without super-cooling could revolutionize quantum tech in cryptography, computing, and AI.
  
• Geodesic approach links quantum physics and gravitation
  It is something like the "Holy Grail" of physics: unifying particle physics and gravitation. The world of tiny particles is described extremely well by quantum theory, while the world of gravitation is captured by Einstein's general theory of relativity. But combining the two has not yet worked—the two leading theories of theoretical physics still do not quite fit together.
  
• Synchrotron radiation sources: Toolboxes for quantum technologies
  Synchrotron radiation sources generate highly brilliant light pulses, ranging from infrared to hard X-rays, which can be used to gain deep insights into complex materials.
  
• Single-photon teleportation achieved between distant quantum dots for the first time
  An international research team involving Paderborn University has achieved a crucial breakthrough on the road to a quantum internet. For the first time ever, the polarization state of a single photon emitted from a quantum dot was successfully teleported to another physically separated quantum dot.
  

Monday, December 1, 2025

• On-demand electronic switching of topology achieved in a single crystal
  University of British Columbia (UBC) scientists have demonstrated a reversible way to switch the topological state of a quantum material using mechanisms compatible with modern electronic devices. Published in Nature Materials, the study offers a new route toward more energy efficient electronics based on topologically protected currents rather than conventional charge flow.