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First contact. A scanning tunneling microscope’s (STM’s) atomically sharp tip, made of normal-metal atoms (blue spheres), approaches a phthalocyanine molecule (blue and white peaks, representing the STM-generated map) on a superconducting lead surface (dark spheres). An electron (blue sphere with arrow above the molecule) can jump across the gap along various paths (jagged pink lines), and this jump is accompanied by the production of a hole (red sphere) that moves in the other direction, a process called Andreev reflection. Superconductivity in the lead is produced by Cooper pairs of electrons (paired spheres), some of which are generated by Andreev-reflection events.

First contact. A scanning tunneling microscope’s (STM’s) atomically sharp tip, made of normal-metal atoms (blue spheres), approaches a phthalocyanine molecule (blue and white peaks, representing the STM-generated map) on a superconducting lead surface (dark spheres). An electron (blue sphere with arrow above the molecule) can jump across the gap along various paths (jagged pink lines), and this jump is accompanied by the production of a hole (red sphere) that moves in the other direction, a process called Andreev reflection. Superconductivity in the lead is produced by Cooper pairs of electrons (paired spheres), some of which are generated by Andreev-reflection events.

Superconductivity traverses a single molecule bridge

Researchers have caused a material’s superconductivity to permeate into a nearby normal metal via a single molecule. They showed that this effect could be controlled and say that this control could allow the creation of so-called Majorana quasiparticles, which many research teams are exploring as future quantum bits (qubits) for quantum computers.

Apr 15, 20253 min read

Hidden behavior of quantum quasicrystals

Hidden behavior of quantum quasicrystals

Hidden behavior of quantum quasicrystals

A quantum quasicrystal is a state of matter characterized by an ordered but nonrepeating arrangement of quantum particles. Such phases ar...

Apr 9, 20251 min read

Rice physicists use quantum entanglement to crack mystery of strange metals

Rice physicists use quantum entanglement to crack mystery of strange metals

Rice physicists use quantum entanglement to crack mystery of strange metals

The study, published recently in Nature Communications, reveals that electrons in strange metals become more entangled at a crucial tippi...

Apr 1, 20253 min read

Molecular Lego bricks: For the homogeneous Heisenberg chain, the researchers used the nanographene molecule Olympicene, which consists of five carbon rings.

Molecular Lego bricks: For the homogeneous Heisenberg chain, the researchers used the nanographene molecule Olympicene, which consists of five carbon rings.

Quantum spin model made from nanographene molecules

Recreating models from quantum physics textbooks is not just an academic exercise – it serves a practical purpose as well. Quantum techno...

Mar 17, 20253 min read

Quantum tornado in momentum space: In the quantum material tantalum arsenide (TaAs), electrons form vortices in momentum space. Momentum space is a physics concept used to analyze how electrons behave in solids. A research team from the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat at Würzburg and Dresden has now provided the first experimental evidence of these quantum tornadoes.

Quantum tornado in momentum space: In the quantum material tantalum arsenide (TaAs), electrons form vortices in momentum space. Momentum space is a physics concept used to analyze how electrons behave in solids. A research team from the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat at Würzburg and Dresden has now provided the first experimental evidence of these quantum tornadoes.

Evidence of a new phenomenon: Quantum tornadoes in momentum space

Momentum space is a physics concept used to analyze how electrons behave in solids. A research team from the Cluster of Excellence ct.qma...

Mar 13, 20253 min read

The Ocelot quantum computer chip.

The Ocelot quantum computer chip.

New Ocelot chip makes strides in quantum computing

Reporting in the February 26 issue of the journal Nature, a team of scientists from AWS and Caltech demonstrate a new quantum chip archit...

Mar 7, 20256 min read

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