In the future, quantum computers are anticipated to solve problems once thought unsolvable, from predicting the course of chemical reactions to producing highly reliable weather forecasts. For now, however, they remain extremely sensitive to environmental disturbances and prone to information loss. A new study from the lab of Dr. Yuval Ronen at the Weizmann Institute of Science, published today in Nature, presents fresh evidence for the existence of non-Abelian anyons – exoti

Surprising signals can arise from the coupling of light particles.

When two black holes merge or two neutron stars collide, gravitational waves can be generated. They spread at the speed of light and cause tiny distortions in space-time. Albert Einstein predicted their existence, and the first direct experimental observation dates from 2015. Now, Prof. Ralf Schützhold, theoretical physicist at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), is going one step further. He has conceived an experiment through which gravitational waves can not o

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. There are many ideas for such a unification – with names like string theory, loop quantum gravity, ca

Princeton researchers have developed a diamond-based quantum sensor that reveals rich new information about magnetic phenomena at this minute scale. The technique uncovers fluctuations that are beyond the reach of existing instruments and provides key insight into materials such as graphene and superconductors. Superconductors have enabled today’s most advanced medical imaging tools and form the basis of hoped-for technologies like lossless powerlines and levitating trains. T

A research team from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics succeeded in realising tuneable long-range interactions between atoms. In their study, published in Science, the scientists were able to increase the system’s lifetime by more than a factor of 100 compared to previous experiments. This allows to study the effect of long-range interactions on a microscopic level in tunnel-coupled quantum systems. Notably, the team experimentally observed an unusual binding mechani

The blue-green lab-grown crystals look like solid rocks, but their atomic states are constantly changing. A team of researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University recently discovered a new example of a quantum spin liquid – a unique state of matter that may one day be used in qubits, the information-storing quantum computer components analogous to classical computer bits.

Quantum materials are a fascinating platform for future technologies, as they host a variety of exotic phenomena beyond the reach of classical physics. Among them, van der Waals heterostructures stand out: They are created by stacking different two-dimensional layers that can be only one atom thick. These structures are remarkably easy to manipulate, offering unprecedented tunability and a vast realm for exploration. A team from the Max-Planck-Institute for the Structure and

Physicists at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg have discovered a striking new form of quantum behavior. In star-shaped Kagome crystals—named after a traditional Japanese bamboo-basket woven pattern—electrons that usually act like a noisy crowd suddenly synchronize, forming a collective “song” that evolves with the crystal’s shape. The study, published in Nature, reveals that geometry itself can tune quantum coherence, opening

A time crystal, a long-life quantum system approaching perpetual motion, has been hooked up to its environment for the first time, unlocking an intriguing way to increase quantum computational and sensing power.

Although quantum technology holds great promise for enabling faster computing, more secure communication and new types of sensing, different quantum systems often don’t interact well with each other. To address this, engineers have developed platforms based on a type of phonon known as a surface acoustic wave. However, the limited propagation distance due to high loss and inherently open 2D structure of existing solutions make such devices relatively large, posing a barrier t

Optical micrograph of the monolayer tungsten diselenide sample, with the right-hand side functionalized with PTCDA. @ Mark...