URL: Quantum Physics

Quantum Physics News

Monday, January 26, 2026

• Establishing a new QM/MM design principle based on electronic-state responses
  A research team has proposed a new design principle for QM/MM (quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics) simulations. The approach enables objective and automatic determination of the quantum-mechanical region based on electronic-state changes, addressing a long-standing challenge in multiscale molecular simulations.
  
• Collaboration of elementary particles: How teamwork among photon pairs overcomes quantum errors
  Some things are easier to achieve if you're not alone. As researchers from the University of Rostock, Germany have shown, this very human insight also applies to the most fundamental building blocks of nature.
  
• AI makes quantum field theories computable
  An old puzzle in particle physics has been solved: How can quantum field theories be best formulated on a lattice to optimally simulate them on a computer? The answer comes from AI.
  

Sunday, January 25, 2026

• Breakthrough laser technique holds quantum matter in stable packets
  For the first time, physicists have generated and observed stable bright matter-wave solitons with attractive interactions within a grid of laser light.
  
• Superconducting nanowire memory array achieves significantly lower error rate
  Quantum computers, systems that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, will require faster and energy-efficient memory components, which will allow them to perform well on complex tasks. Superconducting memories are promising memory devices that are made from superconductors, materials that conduct electricity with a resistance of zero when cooled below a critical temperature.
  

Friday, January 23, 2026

• Particle permutation task can be tackled by quantum but not classical computers, study finds
  Quantum computers, systems that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, are expected to outperform classical computers on some complex tasks. Over the past few decades, many physicists and quantum engineers have tried to demonstrate the advantages of quantum systems over their classical counterparts on specific types of computations.
  

Thursday, January 22, 2026

• Entangled atomic clouds enable more precise quantum measurements
  Researchers at the University of Basel and the Laboratoire Kastler Brossel have demonstrated how quantum mechanical entanglement can be used to measure several physical parameters simultaneously with greater precision.
  
• 3D-printed surfaces help atoms play ball to improve quantum sensors
  Scientists have created 3D printed surfaces featuring intricate textures that can be used to bounce unwanted gas particles away from quantum sensors, allowing useful particles like atoms to be delivered more efficiently, which could help improve measurement accuracy.
  
• Magnetic 'sweet spots' enable optimal operation of hole spin qubits
  Quantum computers, systems that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, could reliably tackle various computational problems that cannot be solved by classical computers. These systems process information in the form of qubits, units of information that can exist in two states at once (0 and 1).
  

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

• Using magnetic frustration to probe new quantum possibilities
  Research in the lab of UC Santa Barbara materials professor Stephen Wilson is focused on understanding the fundamental physics behind unusual states of matter and developing materials that can host the kinds of properties needed for quantum functionalities.
  
• Innovative optical atomic clock could combine single-ion accuracy with multi-ion stability
  For many years, cesium atomic clocks have been reliably keeping time around the world. But the future belongs to even more accurate clocks: optical atomic clocks. In a few years' time, they could change the definition of the base unit second in the International System of Units (SI). It is still completely open, which of the various optical clocks will serve as the basis for this.
  
• New insight into light-matter thermalization could advance neutral-atom quantum computing
  Light and matter can remain at separate temperatures even while interacting with each other for long periods, according to new research that could help scale up an emerging quantum computing approach in which photons and atoms play a central role.
  
• Unified framework sorts spacetime fluctuations for quantum-gravity experiments
  A team of researchers led by the University of Warwick has developed the first unified framework for detecting "spacetime fluctuations"—tiny, random distortions in the fabric of spacetime that appear in many attempts to unite quantum physics and gravity.
  
• Metal clumps in a quantum state: Physicists place thousands of sodium atoms in a 'Schrödinger's cat state'
  Can a small lump of metal be in a quantum state that extends over distant locations? A research team at the University of Vienna answers this question with a resounding yes. In the journal Nature, physicists from the University of Vienna and the University of Duisburg-Essen show that even massive nanoparticles consisting of thousands of sodium atoms follow the rules of quantum mechanics. The experiment is currently one of the best tests of quantum mechanics on a macroscopic scale.
  
• Too much entanglement? Quantum networks can suffer from 'selfish routing,' study shows
  Quantum technologies, systems that process, transfer or store information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, could tackle some real-world problems faster and more effectively than their classical counterparts. In recent years, some engineers have been focusing their efforts on the development of quantum communication systems, which could eventually enable the creation of a "quantum internet" (i.e., an equivalent of the internet in which information is shared via quantum physical effects).
  
• New cryogenic vacuum chamber cuts noise for quantum ion trapping
  Even very slight environmental noise, such as microscopic vibrations or magnetic field fluctuations a hundred times smaller than Earth's magnetic field, can be catastrophic for quantum computing experiments with trapped ions.
  

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

• It started with a cat: How 100 years of quantum weirdness powers today's tech
  A hundred years ago, quantum mechanics was a radical theory that baffled even the brightest minds. Today, it's the backbone of technologies that shape our lives, from lasers and microchips to quantum computers and secure communications.
  
• A twitch in time? Quantum collapse models hint at tiny time fluctuations
  Quantum mechanics is rich with paradoxes and contradictions. It describes a microscopic world in which particles exist in a superposition of states—being in multiple places and configurations all at once, defined mathematically by what physicists call a "wavefunction." But this runs counter to our everyday experience of objects that are either here or there, never both at the same time.
  
• New method reveals quantum states using indirect measurements of particle flows
  A team from UNIGE shows that it is possible to determine the state of a quantum system from indirect measurements when it is coupled to its environment.
  
• Physicists bridge worlds of quantum matter
  A new unified theory connects two fundamental domains of modern quantum physics: It joins two opposite views of how a single exotic particle behaves in a many-body system, namely as a mobile or static impurity among a large number of fermions, a so-called Fermi sea.
  
• Direct visualization captures hidden spatial order of electrons in a quantum material
  The mystery of quantum phenomena inside materials—such as superconductivity, where electric current flows without energy loss—lies in when electrons move together and when they break apart. KAIST researchers have succeeded in directly observing the moments when electrons form and dissolve ordered patterns.
  
• An electrically powered source of entangled light on a chip
  Quantum technologies are cutting-edge systems that can process, transfer, or store information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, particularly a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. Entanglement entails a correlation between two or more distant particles, whereby measuring the state of one also defines the state of the others.
  
• New quantum boundary discovered: Spin size determines how the Kondo effect behaves
  Collective behavior is an unusual phenomenon in condensed-matter physics. When quantum spins interact together as a system, they produce unique effects not seen in individual particles. Understanding how quantum spins interact to produce this behavior is central to modern condensed-matter physics.
  

Monday, January 19, 2026

• Building the world's first open-source quantum computer
  Researchers from the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Science and the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) are prioritizing collaboration over competition to advance quantum computer development and the field of quantum information. They are doing this through Open Quantum Design (OQD), a non-profit organization that boasts the world's first open-source, full stack quantum computer.
  
• Stealth quantum sensors unlock possibilities anywhere GPS doesn't work
  As commercial interest in quantum technologies accelerates, entrepreneurial minds at the University of Waterloo are not waiting for opportunities—they are creating them.
  
• How pointing errors impact quantum key distribution systems
  Quantum key distribution (QKD) is an emerging communication technology that utilizes quantum mechanics principles to ensure highly secure communication between two parties. It enables the sender and receiver to generate a shared secret key over a channel that may be monitored by an attacker. Any attempt to eavesdrop introduces detectable errors in the quantum signals, allowing communicating parties to detect if communication is compromised via QKD protocols.
  
• Physicists uncover hidden magnetic order in the mysterious pseudogap phase
  Physicists have uncovered a link between magnetism and a mysterious phase of matter called the pseudogap, which appears in certain quantum materials just above the temperature at which they become superconducting. The findings could help researchers design new materials with sought-after properties such as high-temperature superconductivity, in which electric current flows without resistance.
  
• Observing the positronium beam as a quantum matter wave for the first time
  One of the discoveries that fundamentally distinguished the emerging field of quantum physics from classical physics was the observation that matter behaves differently at the smallest scales. A key finding was wave-particle duality, the revelation that particles can exhibit wave-like properties.
  
• Quantum 'alchemy' made feasible with excitons
  What if you could create new materials just by shining a light at them? To most, this sounds like science fiction or alchemy, but to physicists investigating the burgeoning field of Floquet engineering, this is the goal. With a periodic drive, like light, scientists can "dress up" the electronic structure of any material, altering its fundamental properties—such as turning a simple semiconductor into a superconductor.
  

Saturday, January 17, 2026

• Detecting single-electron qubits: Microwaves could probe quantum states above liquid helium
  One intriguing method that could be used to form the qubits needed for quantum computers involves electrons hovering above liquid helium. But it wasn't clear how data in this form could be read easily.