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Category: particle physics – Page 14

World’s first superconducting quantum heat engine offers path to larger quantum computers

Recent improvements in our understanding of how the principles of thermodynamics apply in the quantum realm could give a boost to quantum technology, and a clearer picture of quantum thermodynamics could in turn enhance our understanding of classical thermodynamics. Now, Aalto University researchers have demonstrated the first cyclic quantum heat engine inside a superconducting circuit.

Physicists have become increasingly fascinated with the idea that classical thermodynamics could be combined with quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics captures the behavior of particles on tiny scales—smaller than atoms—while thermodynamics is about large systems, from molecules up to the entire universe. How do strange quantum phenomena like tunneling, entanglement and superposition mix with the stolid familiarity of the heat engines that kick-started the Industrial Revolution?

Heat engines, like James Watt’s famous steam engine, convert heat into useful energy, or work. They power our cars, ships and planes, and heat engines are how most power plants generate electricity. Now, the world’s first superconducting quantum heat engine has been built: a tiny device consisting of a transmon qubit, a resonator and a quantum refrigerator.

Entanglement Goes Steady

Two independent groups have demonstrated ways to entangle quantum bits without the need for precisely timed control pulses.

Quantum entanglement describes a link, or correlation, between the states of two or more quantum particles. For example, given a pair of entangled qubits—particles that can be in either a ground state or an excited state—measuring the state of one qubit can inform us about the state of the other. Entanglement is puzzling because it has no analogue in the classical world, where our physical intuition can be relied upon. In particular, entanglement appears to violate the principle of locality: The qubits’ states remain correlated even if we move them far apart before measuring them. But entanglement is more than a curiosity: It is also critical to quantum computing, where it serves as a resource for performing quantum algorithms and remote operations between distant qubits.

New method brings single-particle quality control to nanocrystal manufacturing

Nanocrystals are already used in millions of devices, including televisions, laptops and displays, and are considered key materials for the next generation of quantum, sensing and solar technologies. However, they have not yet fully realized their potential. One major reason is their inherent heterogeneity: A single solution contains billions of nanocrystals whose properties can differ substantially. Although these particles can be characterized, important quality parameters are typically accessible only as average values across the entire sample.

“For their function in devices, these average values are insufficient,” says Professor Emiliano Cortés, who conducts research at LMU’s Nano-Institute. “Each individual nanoparticle can behave differently—for example, in its size or in how efficiently it emits light, meaning how effectively it converts absorbed energy back into light.”

Light Can Act as a Quantum Brake to Slow Movement in The Nanoworld, Scientists Discover

The fundamentals of light continue to fascinate scientists and reveal new secrets – including how its effects can be counterintuitive.

Conventional wisdom suggests that light adds energy to heat up particles or set them in motion.

But scientists just caught light doing the opposite: acting as an invisible brake at scales almost too small to imagine.

In a Flight of Starlings by Giorgio Parisi

From the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, an enlightening and personal journey into the practice of groundbreaking science.

“[Giorgio Parisi is] an extraordinary scientist.” —Carlo Rovelli

With In a Flight of Starlings, celebrated physicist Giorgio Parisi guides us through his unorthodox yet exhilarating work, starting with investigating the principles of physics by observing the flight of flocks of birds. Studying the movements of these communities, he has realized, proves an illuminating way into understanding complex systems of all kinds—collections of everything from atoms and planets to other animals, such as ourselves.

Synthetic rotation brings black hole energy theory into lab, amplifying waves

More than half a century ago, Sir Roger Penrose envisioned a scenario in which energy could be extracted from a black hole spinning at extreme speeds. He proposed that a particle entering its ergosphere—a region of space dragged around by a rotating black hole—could split into two. One part could fall into the black hole while the other escaped carrying more energy than the original particle. Building on this theory, physicist Yakov Zel’dovich later predicted that a wave interacting with a sufficiently fast, rotating object could extract energy from it and become amplified.

Inspired by this theoretical construct, researchers at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) have published a paper in Nature demonstrating a new approach to wave amplification through interaction with rotating bodies. Rather than mechanically rotating matter, however, the team engineered a radio-frequency device with properties modulated in space and time to mimic spinning. The device creates a synthetic form of ultrafast rotation that enables access to rotational speeds far beyond what can be achieved mechanically, allowing researchers to overcome limitations that have long hindered experimental studies of ultrafast rotational dynamics.

“Our approach facilitates a new method of wave–matter interaction in which waves with selected rotational properties extract energy from synthetic time-engineered rotation, producing a form of broadband selective amplification,” said principal investigator Andrea Alù, distinguished professor and Einstein Professor of Physics at the CUNY Graduate Center and founding director of the CUNY ASRC’s Photonics Initiative.

A Simple Search for Tiny Charges

Decades-old experiments have now been enlisted to set new bounds on the properties of a hypothetical particle that bears a tiny fraction of the electron’s charge.

One candidate for the mysterious dark matter believed to pervade the Universe is a hypothetical form of matter called millicharged particles (mCPs), which carry a tiny fraction of the charge on an electron. A research team has now proposed that such particles, if they exist, might be detected by letting them accumulate in simple laboratory-scale devices already used for creating and measuring electric charge [1, 2]. The team has shown that previous measurements made with such devices can be used to set new limits on the properties of mCPs.

The standard model of particle physics accommodates the 17 particles that make up regular, visible matter, but researchers are seeking to extend it to include gravity or dark matter or both. Dark matter seems to be demanded by astronomical observations and—aside from its gravitational interactions—should interact minimally, if at all, with light and with other matter.

Oratomic raises $300M to build a viable quantum computer that needs only 20K qubits

A number of companies, betting on various architectural approaches, are trying to build the first commercially viable quantum computer capable of significantly outperforming current systems.

Oratomic, which entered the race earlier this year with the goal of developing the first utility-scale quantum computer by the end of the decade, said this week that it has raised $300 million. The massive Series A round was co-led by ARCH Venture Partners, Spark Capital, and Khosla Ventures, with participation from Bezos Expeditions, Index Ventures, General Catalyst, Lowercarbon Capital, Bain Capital, and others.

Founded by Caltech physicists, Oratomic uses lasers, which act as optical tweezers, to hold individual atoms in place as the basis for its quantum computer.

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