In a study published in Nature on Aug. 19, a research team has enhanced superconductivity through vacuum fluctuations for the first time. The achievement marks a significant advance in controlling quantum states of matter.

Space free of matter is not truly empty. A vacuum is not a void. In quantum electrodynamics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle implies that, even in the ground state, there is irreducible activity, with the continual creation and annihilation of virtual particles.

Thus, a vacuum contains a dynamic “sea” of quantum fluctuations. Several celebrated phenomena, including the Lamb shift, spontaneous emission and the Casimir effect, provide compelling experimental evidence for their existence.