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Category: quantum physics – Page 22

‘Designer’ superconducting diamond: Researchers uncover path to multi-modality quantum chips

Diamond is extremely valuable to science and technology not for its sparkle but for its extreme hardness, high thermal conductivity, transparency to a large fraction of the light spectrum, and a host of other exceptional properties. Two decades ago, scientists discovered another advantage: under the right conditions, diamond can become a superconductor—allowing electricity to flow through it with zero resistance.

Until recently, though, they knew little about how that happens, limiting its use in high-tech applications.

Now researchers from the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME), and the U.S. Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Center Q-NEXT, led by Argonne National Laboratory, have uncovered new insights into the physics behind the phenomenon by carefully creating high-quality diamond, isolating electronic signatures from material noise, and revealing the fundamental mechanisms that had long remained hidden.

Scientists just captured a mysterious quantum “dance” inside superconductors

Scientists just spotted a mysterious quantum “dance” that could rewrite superconductivity—and reshape future tech. For the first time, researchers have directly visualized the quantum behavior that drives superconductivity, a state in which paired electrons allow electricity to flow with zero resistance at very low temperatures.

But what they observed came as a surprise.

In a study published April 15 in Physical Review Letters, the team captured images of individual atoms forming pairs inside a specially prepared gas cooled to nearly absolute zero — the unreachable limit to how cold anything can get. This system, known as a Fermi gas, lets scientists replace electrons with atoms so they can study superconductivity in a highly controlled environment.

Black holes may avoid singularities when charge and Hawking radiation combine, theoretical physicist argues

Black holes are regions in space where gravity is so strong that nothing, even light, can escape. Einstein’s theory of general relativity breaks down inside black holes, either by the presence of a so-called “curvature singularity” or “Cauchy horizon.”

A curvature singularity is a point where density and spacetime curvature become infinite, the laws of physics break down, and matter is crushed into an infinitely small space. A Cauchy horizon, on the other hand, is a boundary beyond which the future cannot be reliably predicted by known physics theories.

Francesco Di Filippo, a researcher at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Frankfurt, recently carried out a theoretical study that challenges the assumption that black holes must inevitability possess either a singularity or a Cauchy horizon. His paper, published in Physical Review Letters, shows that the combination of electromagnetic repulsion from electric charge and quantum effects described by Stephen Hawking’s radiation theory could prevent the formation of singularities and Cauchy horizons in some black holes.

Quantum supremacy just ran into an unexpected rival: An ordinary laptop armed with new math

Using a conventional computer and cutting-edge mathematical tools and code, physicists at the Center for Computational Quantum Physics (CCQ) at the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute and collaborators at Boston University have cracked a daunting quantum physics problem previously claimed to be solvable only by quantum computers.

The technique is so groundbreaking in its efficiency that the researchers were even able to use a personal laptop to solve the problem.

By enabling scientists to squeeze extra problem-solving power from classical computers, the breakthrough methodology is opening new avenues for research on quantum dynamics and may be useful as a protocol for solving problems about finding the optimal solution amid an abundance of feasible ones.

Molecule-in-a-crystal system could boost quantum computing via chemically engineered qubits

Within a crystal’s atomic structure, tiny atomic-scale flaws will naturally occur where electrons can become trapped. These defects have emerged as one of the leading platforms for quantum information processing. Through a new study, posted to the preprint server arXiv, Ilai Schwartz and colleagues at NVision Imaging Technologies in Germany have shown that a specialized molecule embedded inside a crystal could take this approach a step further, offering a more controllable and versatile route to building quantum systems.

Unlike the classical computers we use every day, quantum computers encode information in the quantum states of qubits, which can exist in combinations of 0 and 1 simultaneously. This quantum information can’t simply be copied or transmitted in the same way as classical bits: when a qubit is measured, its quantum state is disturbed, making it impossible to transmit its information directly.

To tackle this problem, qubits must be connected to photons, which can transmit their quantum information between distant parts of a network. This connection relies on what physicists call a “spin-photon interface”: a structure in which the quantum state of an electron or nucleus can be reliably written, read, and communicated via light.

Geordie Rose: Machine Learning is Progressing Faster Than You Think

“Machine learning is progressing faster than you think.”

Geordie Rose said that to me in 2013.

Back then, it sounded like the kind of thing a quantum computing CEO says to drum up attention. Today it reads like a weather report.

Thirteen years ago, the D-Wave founder and CTO sat down with me for over two hours and laid out a thesis most observers found extreme: machine learning would become broadly available far faster than anyone hoped, and quantum computers would help us build AI by 2029.

The 2029 date sounded like science fiction.

It does not sound like science fiction anymore.

Continue reading “Geordie Rose: Machine Learning is Progressing Faster Than You Think” | >

What if the direction of a magnet could shape the building blocks of life?

In a new discovery, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute of Science have found that something in the direction of a magnetic field can influence how molecules of life behave at the most fundamental level and how early chemical processes linked to life may have unfolded.

The study, published in Chem and led by Prof. Yossi Paltiel (Hebrew University) and Prof. Michal Sharon (Weizmann Institute), shows that tiny differences between atoms (different isotopes) can lead to measurable changes in molecular behavior when combined with an invisible quantum property known as electron spin. Separation of the different isotopes can be achieved by magnetic surfaces.

At the center of the story is L-methionine, an amino acid, a basic building block of life. Like other biological molecules, methionine has a specific “handedness,” meaning it exists in a form that is not identical to its mirror image. This property, called chirality, is a mystery: why did nature choose one “hand” over the other?

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