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Superconducting quantum processors help understand quantum transport

Thus, a complete understanding of quantum transport requires the ability to simulate and probe macroscopic and microscopic physics on equal footing.

Researchers from Singapore and China have utilized a superconducting quantum processor to examine the phenomenon of quantum transport in unprecedented detail.

Gaining deeper insights into quantum transport—encompassing the flow of particles, magnetization, energy, and information through quantum channels—has the potential to drive significant innovations in next-generation technologies such as nanoelectronics and thermal management.

Quantum simulator realizes strongly interacting Mott-Meissner phases in bosonic flux ladders

When exposed to periodic driving, which is the time-dependent manipulation of a system’s parameters, quantum systems can exhibit interesting new phases of matter that are not present in time-independent (i.e., static) conditions. Among other things, periodic driving can be useful for the engineering of synthetic gauge fields, artificial constructs that mimic the behavior of electromagnetic fields and can be leveraged to study topological many-body physics using neutral atom quantum simulators.

Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST) recently realized a strongly interacting phase of matter in large-scale bosonic flux ladders, known as the Mott-Meissner phase, using a neutral atom quantum simulator. Their paper, published in Nature Physics, could open new exciting possibilities for the in-depth study of topological quantum matter.

“Our work was inspired by a long-standing effort across the field of neutral atom quantum simulation to study strongly interacting phases of matter in the presence of magnetic fields,” Alexander Impertro, first author of the paper, told Phys.org. “The interplay of these two ingredients can create a variety of quantum many-body phases with exotic properties.

Controlling quantum motion and hyper-entanglement

Manuel Endres, professor of physics at Caltech, specializes in finely controlling single atoms using devices known as optical tweezers. He and his colleagues use the tweezers, made of laser light, to manipulate individual atoms within an array of atoms to study fundamental properties of quantum systems. Their experiments have led to, among other advances, new techniques for erasing errors in simple quantum machines; a new device that could lead to the world’s most precise clocks; and a record-breaking quantum system controlling more than 6,000 individual atoms.

One nagging factor in this line of work has been the normal jiggling motion of atoms, which make the systems harder to control. Now, reporting in the journal Science, the team has flipped the problem on its head and used this to encode .

“We show that atomic motion, which is typically treated as a source of unwanted noise in quantum systems, can be turned into a strength,” says Adam Shaw, a co-lead author on the study along with Pascal Scholl and Ran Finkelstein.

A new nanometer-scale measurement tool exploits the quantum properties of light for better precision and speed

University of Illinois Physics Professor Paul Kwiat and members of his research group have developed a new tool for precision measurement at the nanometer scale in scenarios where background noise and optical loss from the sample are present.

This new optical interferometry technology leverages the quantum properties of light—specifically, extreme color entanglement—to enable faster and more precise measurements than widely used classical and quantum techniques can achieve.

Colin Lualdi, Illinois Physics graduate student and lead author of the study, emphasizes, “By taking advantage of both quantum interference and , we can make measurements that would otherwise be difficult with existing methods.”

Researchers unveil 3D magnon control, charting a new course for neuromorphic and quantum technologies

What if the magnon Hall effect, which processes information using magnons (spin waves) capable of current-free information transfer with magnets, could overcome its current limitation of being possible only on a 2D plane? If magnons could be utilized in 3D space, they would enable flexible design, including 3D circuits, and be applicable in various fields such as next-generation neuromorphic (brain-mimicking) computing structures, similar to human brain information processing.

KAIST and an international joint research team have, for the first time, predicted a 3D magnon Hall effect, demonstrating that magnons can move freely and complexly in 3D space, transcending the conventional concept of magnons. The work is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Professor Se Kwon Kim of the Department of Physics, in collaboration with Dr. Ricardo Zarzuela of the University of Mainz, Germany, has revealed that the interaction between magnons (spin waves) and solitons (spin vortices) within complex (topologically textured frustrated magnets) is not simple, but complex in a way that enables novel functionalities.

Study shows domain walls in ferroelectrics can be the most stable state, enabling high-density memory

A research team, led by Professor Junhee Lee from the Graduate School of Semiconductor Materials and Devices Engineering at UNIST, has demonstrated through quantum mechanical calculations that charged domain walls in ferroelectrics—once thought to be unstable—can, in fact, be more stable than the bulk regions.

This discovery opens new avenues for developing high-density semiconductor memory devices capable of storing information as binary states (0s and 1s) based on the presence or absence of .

This research was conducted in collaboration with researchers Pawan Kumar and Dipti Gupta, who served as the first author and co-author, respectively. The research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Photon manipulation near absolute zero: New record for processing individual light particles

Scientists at Paderborn University have made a further step forward in the field of quantum research: for the first time ever, they have demonstrated a cryogenic circuit (i.e. one that operates in extremely cold conditions) that allows light quanta—also known as photons—to be controlled more quickly than ever before.

Specifically, these scientists have discovered a way of using circuits to actively manipulate made up of individual photons. This milestone could substantially contribute to developing modern technologies in quantum information science, communication and simulation. The results have now been published in the journal Optica.

Photons, the smallest units of light, are vital for processing quantum information. This often requires measuring a ’s state in real time and using this information to actively control the luminous flux—a method known as a “feedforward operation.”

Quantum computing and photonics discovery potentially shrinks critical parts by 1,000 times

Researchers have made a discovery that could make quantum computing more compact, potentially shrinking essential components 1,000 times while also requiring less equipment. The research is published in Nature Photonics.

A class of quantum computers being developed now relies on light particles, or photons, created in pairs linked or “entangled” in quantum physics parlance. One way to produce these photons is to shine a laser on millimeter-thick crystals and use optical equipment to ensure the photons become linked. A drawback to this approach is that it is too big to integrate into a computer chip.

Now, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists have found a way to address this approach’s problem by producing linked pairs of photons using much thinner materials that are just 1.2 micrometers thick, or about 80 times thinner than a strand of hair. And they did so without needing additional optical gear to maintain the link between the , making the overall set-up simpler.

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