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Category: quantum physics – Page 464

Using nanofaceting to manipulate quantum dots into nanocrystals

A new method of controlling the shape of tiny particles about one tenth of the width of human hair could make the technology that powers our daily lives more stable and more efficient, scientists claim.

The process, which transforms the structure of microscopic semiconductor materials known as quantum dots, provides industry with opportunities to optimize optoelectronics, , photonics, and biomedical imaging technologies, according to the Cardiff University-led team.

Their study, published in Nano Letters, used a process called nanofaceting—the formation of small, on nanoparticles—to manipulate the quantum dots into a variety of shapes called nanocrystals.

Our Existence Always Contains Some Uncertainty. This Physics Principle Explains Why

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German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg first introduced his uncertainty principle in a 1925 paper. It’s special because it remains intact no matter how good our experimental methods get; this isn’t a lack of precision in measurement. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, or how sophisticated your equipment, is you can’t think your way past it. It’s a fact of nature.

Legendary physicist and master bongo player Richard Feynman put it like this: “The uncertainty principle ‘protects’ quantum mechanics. Heisenberg recognized that if it were possible to measure both the momentum and the position simultaneously with greater accuracy, quantum mechanics would collapse. So he proposed that must be impossible.”

Reality is telling us that we can have our quantum cake, but we can’t eat it, too.

Peeling Back Quantum Mysteries: New Tool Disentangles the Electronic States Layer-by-Layer

Researchers at the university of chicago.

Founded in 1,890, the University of Chicago (UChicago, U of C, or Chicago) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Located on a 217-acre campus in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, near Lake Michigan, the school holds top-ten positions in various national and international rankings. UChicago is also well known for its professional schools: Pritzker School of Medicine, Booth School of Business, Law School, School of Social Service Administration, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, Divinity School and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, and Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.

Experimental observation of curved light-cones in a quantum field simulator

We investigate signal propagation in a quantum field simulator of the Klein–Gordon model realized by two strongly coupled parallel one-dimensional quasi-condensates. By measuring local phononic fields after a quench, we observe the propagation of correlations along sharp light-cone fronts. If the local atomic density is inhomogeneous, these propagation fronts are curved. For sharp edges, the propagation fronts are reflected at the system’s boundaries. By extracting the space-dependent variation of the front velocity from the data, we find agreement with theoretical predictions based on curved geodesics of an inhomogeneous metric. This work extends the range of quantum simulations of nonequilibrium field dynamics in general space–time metrics.

Quantum Biology Could Revolutionize Our Understanding of How Life Works

In my work, I build instruments to study and control the quantum properties of small things like electrons. In the same way that electrons have mass and charge, they also have a quantum property called spin. Spin defines how the electrons interact with a magnetic field, in the same way that charge defines how electrons interact with an electric field. The quantum experiments I have been building since graduate school, and now in my own lab, aim to apply tailored magnetic fields to change the spins of particular electrons.

Research has demonstrated that many physiological processes are influenced by weak magnetic fields. These processes include stem cell development and maturation, cell proliferation rates, genetic material repair, and countless others. These physiological responses to magnetic fields are consistent with chemical reactions that depend on the spin of particular electrons within molecules. Applying a weak magnetic field to change electron spins can thus effectively control a chemical reaction’s final products, with important physiological consequences.

Currently, a lack of understanding of how such processes work at the nanoscale level prevents researchers from determining exactly what strength and frequency of magnetic fields cause specific chemical reactions in cells. Current cell phone, wearable, and miniaturization technologies are already sufficient to produce tailored, weak magnetic fields that change physiology, both for good and for bad. The missing piece of the puzzle is, hence, a “deterministic codebook” of how to map quantum causes to physiological outcomes.

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