A research team has developed the world’s first next-generation betavoltaic cell by directly connecting a radioactive isotope electrode to a perovskite absorber layer. By embedding carbon-14-based quantum dots into the electrode and enhancing the perovskite absorber layer’s crystallinity, the team achieved both stable power output and high energy conversion efficiency.
The work is published in the journal Chemical Communications. The team was led by Professor Su-Il In of the Department of Energy Science & Engineering at DGIST.
The newly developed technology offers a stable, long-term power supply without the need for recharging, making it a promising next-generation energy solution for fields requiring long-term power autonomy, such as space exploration, implantable medical devices, and military applications.
Researchers at QuTech in Delft have combined superconductors and quantum dots to observe and manipulate so-called Majorana bound states, which have properties that could enable stable quantum computation. By building a chain of three coupled quantum dots in a two-dimensional electron gas, they were able to demonstrate properties of Majoranas that are essential for the study of Majorana-based quantum bits.
The results are published in Nature.
One of the key issues in quantum computing remains the inherent instability of quantum bits. In the quest for fault-tolerant quantum computers, topological quantum bits are expected to be significantly less prone to errors. Key to these qubits are quasiparticles called Majorana bound states, which have been predicted to appear on opposite edges of one-dimensional superconducting systems.
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) are tackling one of the most complex challenges in the world of quantum information—how to create reliable, scalable networks that can connect quantum systems over distances.
Their work has resulted in two publications in Physical Review Letters and Science Advances, bringing us one step closer to realizing large-scale networked quantum systems, or even the quantum internet.
The research team, which includes faculty members from the RPI Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, and the Department of Computer Science, is led by Assistant Professor Xiangyi Meng, Ph.D. Their research focuses on designing quantum networks that use entanglement—a phenomenon where quantum particles become mysteriously correlated.
Innsbruck physicists have presented a new architecture for improved quantum control of microwave resonators. In a study recently published in PRX Quantum, they show how a superconducting fluxonium qubit can be selectively coupled and decoupled with a microwave resonator and without additional components. This makes potentially longer storage times possible.
Microwave resonators are considered a promising building block for the development of robust quantum computers, as they store quantum information in more complex states. This simplifies error correction and allows significantly longer storage times.
“The storage time of quantum information of these microwave resonators has so far been limited by undesirable interactions with the superconducting qubits used to control them,” explains Gerhard Kirchmair from the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck and the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Interdisciplinary teams across the Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA) are using innovative approaches to push the boundaries of superconducting qubit technology, bridging the gap between today’s NISQ (Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum) systems and future fault-tolerant systems capable of impactful science applications.
QSA is one of the five United States Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers, bringing together leading pioneers in quantum information science (QIS) and engineering across 15 partner institutions.
A superconducting qubit is made from superconducting materials such as aluminum or niobium, which exhibit quantum effects when cooled to very low temperatures (typically around 20 millikelvins, or −273.13° C). Numerous technology companies and research teams across universities and national laboratories are leveraging superconducting qubits for prototype scientific computing in this rapidly growing field.
In the context of quantum physics, the term “duality” refers to transformations that link apparently distinct physical theories, often unveiling hidden symmetries. Some recent studies have been aimed at understanding and implementing duality transformations, as this could aid the study of quantum states and symmetry-protected phenomena.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge, Ghent University, Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques and the University of Sydney recently demonstrated the implementation of dualities in symmetric 1-dimensional (1D) quantum lattice models, outlining a method to turn duality operators into unitary linear-depth quantum circuits.
Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, is part of a larger research effort aimed at better understanding symmetries and dualities in quantum lattice models.
The quantum black hole with (almost) no equations by Professor Gerard ‘t Hooft.
How to reconcile Einstein’s theory of General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics is a notorious problem. Special relativity, on the other hand, was united completely with quantum mechanics when the Standard Model, including Higgs mechanism, was formulated as a relativistic quantum field theory.
Since Stephen Hawking shed new light on quantum mechanical effects in black holes, it was hoped that black holes may be used to obtain a more complete picture of Nature’s laws in that domain, but he arrived at claims that are difficult to use in this respect. Was he right? What happens with information sent into a black hole?
The discussion is not over; in this lecture it is shown that a mild conical singularity at the black hole horizon may be inevitable, while it doubles the temperature of quantum radiation emitted by a black hole, we illustrate the situation with only few equations.
About the Higgs Lecture.
The Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences is delighted to present the Annual Higgs Lecture. The inaugural Annual Higgs Lecture was delivered in December 2012 by its name bearer, Professor Peter Higgs, who returned to King’s after graduating in 1950 with a first-class honours degree in Physics, and who famously predicted the Higgs Boson particle.
In this talk, Klaus Mainzer explores the connections between the Leibniz’ Monadology, the structure and function of the brain, and recent developments in quantum computing. He reflects on the nature of complexity, intelligence, and the possibilities of quantum information technologies.