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Category: quantum physics – Page 24

Bright ideas accelerate the hunt for quantum emitters

The search for materials that can power future quantum technologies is accelerating, but identifying the most promising candidates remains painfully slow. Evaluating whether a material can efficiently emit quantum light requires computationally intensive simulations, making it difficult to screen the vast number of available materials.

Now, researchers from the University of Osaka have overcome this bottleneck with a prediction method that rapidly evaluates promising quantum materials without sacrificing accuracy. They established a high-speed first-principles framework for evaluating atomic-scale color centers that emit single photons and store quantum information.

The findings are published in the journal npj Computational Materials.

Vacuum-fluctuation-enhanced superconductivity demonstrated for the first time

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.

Supersized quantum sensors make faint photons easier to catch

Our everyday life is flooded with photons, the quantum building blocks of light. For cutting-edge technology, from quantum computing to deep-tissue imaging, detecting every single photon counts.

“Photons carry information,” said Kristen Parzuchowski, a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. “Whenever a photon comes into your measurement system, you need to be able to detect it.”

Photons can transmit data in quantum networks or across deep-space communication links. Catching and analyzing photons lets scientists build biomedical images and search the universe for dark matter.

New free-space optical link adds a wireless component to the nation’s longest quantum network

There’s a new lighthouse on Long Island. But instead of shining light to guide ships through waterways, this one transmits and receives particles of light that carry quantum information. Perched atop a seven-story building at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, the “Quantum Lighthouse” is a key pillar of the free-space optical (FSO) link spanning Brookhaven Lab, the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Stony Brook University) and Yale University.

“An FSO link is analogous to the wireless technology that allowed today’s classical internet to expand beyond wired connections to orbiting satellites, as well as our cellphones,” said Justine Haupt, Brookhaven Lab’s lead scientist on the cross-institutional FSO link project. “It’s one of the key technologies needed to make a quantum internet truly useful.”

This FSO link—the first permanent one of its kind—adds a wireless component to the nation’s longest quantum network, which spans 161 miles (259 kilometers) across Long Island and the New York metropolitan area.

This Grain-of-Rice-Sized “Rainbow” Chip Could Transform 6G Communications

A tiny chip that produces a precisely organized “rainbow” of light could help enable faster, higher-capacity 6G communications and more precise timing for quantum technologies.

A microchip about the size of a grain of rice can generate a carefully ordered spectrum of light and convert it into multiple high-frequency electromagnetic signals called millimeter waves. Physicists at Loughborough University and their international collaborators say the approach could eventually support technologies that require large amounts of bandwidth and exceptionally precise signals.

Millimeter waves are especially attractive for future communications because they provide far more bandwidth, effectively creating additional capacity for transmitting data. The challenge has been producing these frequencies with the precision and stability required for advanced systems.

Quantum dots keep their glow under heat after dual modification

Quantum dots are semiconductor crystals only a few nanometers in size. Their ability to produce bright, precisely tunable colors has made them promising materials for light-emitting diodes, displays, solar cells and other optoelectronic technologies. Yet heat remains a major obstacle to their practical use.

A study from Koç University demonstrates that modifying both the internal crystal lattice and the surface of perovskite quantum dots can substantially improve their thermal stability. While untreated quantum dots began to lose their structural integrity and light emission at around 60°C (140°F), the modified materials remained brightly emissive and retained their cubic structure at temperatures of up to 80°C (176°F).

The open-access study, published in Nanoscale, was conducted by Pouriya Naziri, Saba Sepahban Shahgoli, Hadi Jahangiri and Professor Umut Aydemir of Koç University.

This frozen fiber makes light and sound interact 1,000x more strongly

Freezing the liquid core of an optical fiber produced an extreme environment where light and sound interact more than 1,000 times more strongly than in ordinary fibers. Researchers used the effect to create optoacoustic memory, potentially paving the way for lower-energy photonic computers and advanced quantum technologies.

‘Rainbow-on-a-chip’ could help unlock 6G networks and precision timing for quantum technologies

Loughborough University physicists and an international team have demonstrated that a grain-of-rice-sized microchip can be used to produce a spectrum of precisely spaced frequencies of light, which is then converted into multiple high-frequency electromagnetic signals known as millimeter waves.

Millimeter waves are of growing interest for future communications because they offer much more bandwidth—essentially more space for transmitting data—but generating them with the precision and stability needed for advanced technologies remains challenging.

“The world is becoming increasingly data hungry. We want to send and receive more information, faster and in higher resolution, and millimeter waves could help provide the capacity to do that,” said Dr. Luke Peters, of Loughborough University’s Emergent Photonics Research Center.