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A line of orange atoms is depicted in blue laser tweezers. @ California Institute of Technology Physicists use advanced quantum technologies to test decades-old theory predictions When different materials transition from one phase to another, such as water coming to a boil or a magnet losing its ability to attract metals, something remarkable can happen: They begin to behave identically, following the same mathematical rules. "Physicists call this trait universality—the messy

In this illustration, photons hit a strip of superconducting wire, disrupting the electric current and registering an electric pulse. Each pulse tells researchers about the light that has hit the detector, which is beneficial for applications like biomedical imaging and astronomy. Credit: Natasha Hanacek/NIST Our everyday life is flooded with photons, the quantum building blocks of light. For cutting-edge technology, from quantum computing to deep-tissue imaging, detecting ev

An AI-generated illustration depciting the Kondo effect. Conducting electrons in a metal are shown interacting with the spin of an embedded magnetic atom impurity. Credit: AI-generated artwork by Linqing Peng A team of scientists from Caltech and Yale University has shown for the first time how to accurately quantify an important quantum phenomenon in metals, called the Kondo effect, for specific real materials. Unlike previous approaches, which for decades have relied on sim

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have identified a stricter criterion for when quantum computers can outperform classical machines. Magic states, special qubit configurations required for universal quantum computation, are necessary but not always sufficient. Many states previously regarded as useful magic can still be simulated efficiently on classical computers. The team used the Kirkwood–Dirac distribution, a 1945 quasi-probability framework associated with Paul

Thermodynamics was built for steam engines; quantum mechanics for atoms. The two meet again in a driven cavity, where an atom absorbs and emits photons while a laser continuously supplies energy and light leaks through the mirrors. Patrick Potts and colleagues at the University of Basel treat this textbook open system as a miniature light engine. Their key step is not to count every escaping photon as waste heat. Part of that outgoing energy can still do work on another quant

Researchers at the University of Basel and Technical University of Munich have used light to probe the collective motion of electrons in a Wigner crystal formed in monolayer tungsten diselenide. Optical signatures of Wigner crystal polarons reveal internal dynamics of this fragile quantum state, opening a new window into strongly correlated electronic systems. Published in Nature Physics.