URL: Quantum Physics

Quantum Physics News

Thursday, July 2, 2026

• Single ion maps 3D electromagnetic fields above chips with record sensitivity
  Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method that uses a single ion to detect electromagnetic fields above a surface and to create a three-dimensional map of them. In the future, this approach can be used to improve chips for quantum computers and quantum sensors.
  
• Spontaneous current loops in a kagome metal point to hidden quantum order
  Quantum materials, materials exhibiting physical behavior governed by the laws of quantum mechanics, have proved promising for the development of numerous advanced technologies, including quantum technologies, memory devices and solar panels. In some of these materials, electrons can collectively arrange themselves in unusual patterns, giving rise to states that cannot be explained by classical physics theories.
  
• Quantum properties of multimode light observed despite extreme losses
  Quantum properties of light are extremely delicate. When researchers attempt to measure them, even small losses on the way to a detector can make them invisible, limiting their use outside carefully controlled environments. A collaborative team of researchers involving scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) has shown a new way to measure several quantum channels of light at the same time and reveal their entanglement, even when almost all of the light is lost before reaching the detector. The results, recently published in Nature Communications, open new possibilities for scalable quantum technologies.
  
• Quantum gravity tests may mistake ordinary spacetime for superposition
  Everything around us, from atoms and molecules to planets and galaxies, is governed by two extraordinarily successful theories of physics: quantum mechanics and gravity. Quantum mechanics explains the behavior of the microscopic world, while Einstein's theory of gravity describes the motion of stars, black holes and the expansion of the universe. Yet despite their successes, physicists are still searching for a theory of "quantum gravity" that would unite them into a single description of nature.
  
• Quantum semiconductor design could expand search for dark matter
  Dark matter accounts for 85% of the matter in the universe, but scientists still do not know what it is made of. A study, published in Physical Review Letters, by Rice University researchers proposes a detector design that could help search for axions, hypothetical particles that many physicists think could make up dark matter.
  
• Analog gravity advance offers new insights into Hawking radiation from black holes
  Hawking radiation is a form of radiation emitted by black holes, as theoretically predicted by Stephen Hawking. It suggests that black holes do not merely swallow matter—as had previously been assumed—but also emit very faint radiation themselves. This radiation has not yet been observed in space; instead, researchers use models in the laboratory that mimic the behavior of black holes.
  

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

• Quantum computer simulates hadronization, reproducing string breaking with 104 qubits
  By remotely accessing an IBM quantum computer, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has successfully simulated a key process in particle physics: hadronization. Although based on a simplified model of quantum mechanics, the project lays the groundwork for how physicists can leverage the power of quantum computers to make large scientific calculations beyond the capabilities of classical supercomputers. The research is published in the journal Physical Review D.
  
• Physicists demonstrate Hong–Ou–Mandel interference with more than 10 atoms
  In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers have demonstrated the Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) effect with up to 12 indistinguishable neutral atoms—an effect that has been predominantly observed in photonic systems.
  

Monday, June 29, 2026

• Plutonium compound unlocks rare topological quantum behavior with potential nuclear science applications
  Plutonium is one of the most complex elements in the periodic table. First synthesized and isolated in 1940 by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, plutonium has been studied closely for more than eight decades. It's most often associated with its role in nuclear security, but it's also vital to nuclear power, where it is produced in reactors and can be recycled as fuel. Despite plutonium's importance, some of its most fundamental behaviors remain a mystery.
  

Saturday, June 27, 2026

• Non-Hermitian geometry reveals when quantum amplification depends only on start and end points
  In quantum mechanics, the geometry of quantum states has emerged as a powerful framework for understanding phenomena ranging from electrical conductivity to superconductivity. One research direction aims to extend these geometric concepts to non-Hermitian quantum mechanics—where systems can exchange energy with their environment—including the generalization of the Berry phase, a key geometric quantity, to the non-Hermitian case.
  

Friday, June 26, 2026

• Clean crystal surface lets single molecules hit ultimate quantum limit
  Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have developed a technique for interrogating molecules on surfaces with spectroscopic precision, thereby reaching the ultimate quantum limit for the first time. With their findings, published in Science, the researchers open new opportunities for the study of molecule-surface interactions and molecular quantum technologies.
  
• Semiconductor quantum dots 'reawaken' predicted Rabi oscillations, boosting quantum control
  Physicists at Paderborn University have, for the first time, experimentally demonstrated the so-called "return" of Rabi oscillations in semiconductor quantum dots. The phenomenon, which was first predicted theoretically in 2007, describes the decrease in the emission intensity of the quantum dots, which are initially damped by interactions with the lattice vibrations of a solid (phonons).
  
• Metal hydride molecule trapped with laser light opens path to ultracold hydrogen
  Controlling and trapping molecules, units of a substance consisting of two or more chemically bound atoms, with laser light is significantly more challenging than trapping individual atoms. This is because molecules exhibit more complex vibrational and rotational dynamics that make them more difficult to cool and trap.
  

Thursday, June 25, 2026

• Scientists measure hidden quantum forces that could power a new generation of pharmaceutical drugs
  It's one thing to design a pharmaceutical drug. It's another to know if and why it actually works; not on paper or in a computer model, but inside the chaotic world of living systems, where proteins twist into shape, atoms constantly pull and push each other apart, and molecular interactions are the difference between health and disease.
  
• Seven exotic quantum phases predicted in ultracold magnetic atoms, including topological superconductivity
  Strongly interacting quantum particles are key to some of the most fascinating phenomena in modern physics—from magnetism and superconductivity to topological states. Yet the complexity of such systems makes many of their properties difficult to understand even today. A research team from Innsbruck and Turin has now proposed a new theoretical framework for generating and studying these exotic states of matter in ultracold magnetic atoms in a one-dimensional lattice.
  
• Trios of quantum particles form checkerboard layouts when particle density hits sweet spot
  Trions form when three particles, like quarks or electrons, come together. This formation occurs in quantum particles in nuclear physics, semiconductors and magnets, and understanding its behavior can be challenging. Rice University's Kaden Hazzard and his team recently developed a theory on how these formations occur and behave, which was published in Physical Review Letters.
  
• A thermodynamic approach to gravity could explain cosmic acceleration without dark energy
  Gravity, the force that attracts objects toward each other, is currently framed by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. This framework describes gravity as the curvature of spacetime, the invisible four-dimensional fabric of the universe.
  
• Quantum waves reveal one-sided motion marking elusive critical states
  Sound waves, light waves and other types of waves, generally spread freely through space and over time. In 1958, physicist Philip W. Anderson first described a phenomenon via which irregularities or other sources of disorder in materials would prevent waves from propagating freely, which is now known as Anderson localization.
  

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

• A new quantum computer sets a high watermark for accuracy. Are we on the verge of a big breakthrough?
  In a laboratory in Broomfield, Colorado, 98 atoms are suspended in midair, held in place by electric fields and cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero.
  
• Geometric anti-spring works near absolute zero, suppressing vibrations below 0.185 hertz
  Physicists and instrument makers in Leiden have succeeded in optimizing a spring that almost completely filters out vibrations at temperatures near absolute zero. This breakthrough opens the door to a new generation of highly sensitive experiments. The research is published in the journal Measurement Science and Technology.
  
• Turning low-value diamond dust into high-performance quantum materials
  Diamonds have long been coveted for their beauty. Their dazzling color and clarity make them perfect candidates for luxury jewelry. However, it's their other unique characteristics, including their hardness, thermal conductivity and chemical resistance, that make diamonds suitable for various applications in industry and advanced technologies.
  
• Quantum squeezing sidesteps the limits on mechanical transducers
  From detecting the ripples of colliding black holes to imaging individual chemical bonds, mechanical transducers have repeatedly transformed our understanding of the universe. So far, however, the sensitivity of these devices has been intrinsically limited by the laws of quantum mechanics itself.
  
• Scientists catch classical space-time crystals moving like Majorana quasiparticles
  A research team from Hiroshima University, the University of Colorado, and other collaborators have demonstrated that space-time crystals—exotic structures that, under external drive, loop endlessly through both space and time—can be created using everyday liquid-crystal materials.
  

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

• Listening for quantum oscillations in the Kondo insulator ytterbium dodecaboride
  Magnetic quantum oscillations have been unexpectedly observed in insulators, where freely moving charge carriers are not expected to exist. A joint study by researchers from Tokyo University of Science, The University of Tokyo and Kobe University investigated this puzzling behavior in the Kondo insulator YbB12 using ultrasound.
  
• Wave-packet interferometry captures elusive dark excitons in organic superconductor
  In a recent study, Manish Garg, independent group leader at Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI FKF), succeeded in probing the local properties of bright and dark excitons in the organic superconductor copper naphthalocyanine (CuNc). The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.
  
• Pathway to high-fidelity quantum computing identified
  Researchers from the University of Sydney, working with IBM, have identified and quantified important factors limiting the performance of quantum computers and demonstrated ways to overcome their impact.
  
• Horizon edge states gain finite description in string theory calculation
  Modern physics theories highlight the key role of horizons—boundaries beyond which information cannot reach an observer—in a variety of cosmological and gravitational phenomena. Two renowned examples of these boundaries are event horizons in black holes and the cosmological horizon of the de Sitter spacetime, a model of an expanding universe with a positive vacuum energy.
  
• Solid-state material turns visible light into high-energy UV at sunlight intensity, expanding solar energy potential
  Two cups of warm water don't make one cup of boiling water. But in the quantum world, multiple low-energy photons can combine to produce a single, higher-energy photon.
  

Monday, June 22, 2026

• Broken time-reversal symmetry phase in kagome metals may establish conditions for superconductivity
  Physicists have long suspected that a peculiar quantum state lurks inside a class of materials known as kagome metals, but proving its existence has been elusive. Now, a team led by Yeongkwan Kim at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has performed experiments on a kagome metal that provide the strongest evidence yet for this exotic state.
  
• Investigating quantum and molecular plumbing in nanofluidics research
  Our body contains an intricate system of tiny vessels through which blood, water and other molecules flow. When the size of the pipes shrinks to the nanoscale, where only a few molecules can fit side by side, the classical laws of physics governing the behavior of water are influenced by the atomic structure of the walls. "It's not that classical hydrodynamics breaks down, but rather that it gets mixed with the condensed matter physics of the solid walls," says Nikita Kavokine, tenure-track assistant professor and leader of the EPFL Quantum Plumbing Lab.