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Category: quantum physics – Page 8

Optical frequency comb integration transforms absolute distance measurement precision

The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science has successfully developed a length measurement system that achieves a level of precision approaching the theoretical limit allowed by quantum physics.

The system boasts world-leading measurement accuracy while maintaining a compact and robust design suitable for field deployment, making it a strong candidate to serve as the new benchmark for next-generation length metrology. The work is published in the journal Laser & Photonics Reviews.

Currently, the most precise instruments for measuring length are national length measurement standards, which define the unit of one meter. These instruments, operated by leading national metrology institutes including KRISS, utilize interferometers based on single-wavelength lasers to perform ultra-precise length measurements.

Gold clusters mimic atomic spin properties for scalable quantum computing applications

The efficiency of quantum computers, sensors and other applications often relies on the properties of electrons, including how they are spinning. One of the most accurate systems for high-performance quantum applications relies on tapping into the spin properties of electrons of atoms trapped in a gas, but these systems are difficult to scale up for use in larger quantum devices like quantum computers.

Now, a team of researchers from Penn State and Colorado State has demonstrated how a gold cluster can mimic these gaseous, trapped atoms, allowing scientists to take advantage of these spin properties in a system that can be easily scaled up.

“For the first time, we show that have the same key spin properties as the current state-of-the-art methods for quantum information systems,” said Ken Knappenberger, department head and professor of chemistry in the Penn State Eberly College of Science and leader of the research team.

Physicists Break Quantum Barrier With Record-Breaking Qubit Coherence

The result points to a significant advance in computing power, prompting researchers to replicate the groundbreaking measurement. On July 8, 2025, researchers at Aalto University in Finland reported a transmon qubit coherence time that significantly exceeds all previously published scientific ben

Chicago’s $1 Billion Quantum Computer to Start Operating in 2028

The startup behind Chicago’s more than $1 billion quantum computing deal said operations are expected to start in three years, a win for Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who backed the investment and is widely seen as a potential presidential candidate.

PsiQuantum Corp. will start construction at the state’s new quantum and microelectronics park in the South Side of Chicago later this year, Chief Executive Officer Jeremy O’Brien said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Chicago office. The supercomputer — one of two utility-scale, fault-tolerant machines the company is building globally — is expected to be online in 2028, he said.

The dawn of quantum advantage

Quantum computing is about to enter an important stage — the era of quantum advantage. The first claims of quantum advantage are emerging, and over the next few years, we expect researchers and developers to continue presenting compelling hypotheses for quantum advantages. In turn, the broader community will either disprove these hypotheses with cutting-edge techniques — or the advantage holds.

Put simply, quantum advantage means that a quantum computer can run a computation more accurately, cheaply, or efficiently than a classical computer. Between now and the end of 2026, we predict that the quantum community will have uncovered the first quantum advantages. But there’s more to it than that.

We have arrived already at a place where quantum computing is a useful scientific tool capable of performing computations that even the best exact classical algorithms can’t. We and our partners are already conducting a range of experiments on quantum computers that are competitive with the leading classical approximation methods. At the same time, computing researchers are testing advantage claims with innovative new classical approaches.

Testing Quantum Theory in Curved Spacetime

A proposed experiment could shed light on the unknown interplay of quantum theory and general relativity.

Quantum theory has been remarkably successful ever since its inception 100 years ago. And yet, there is a glaring mismatch between the discrete, quantum nature of matter and the apparent continuous, classical nature of spacetime, in which matter resides and interacts. This disparity raises profound questions. Does spacetime have indivisible units, or quanta, even though it does not seem to be divisible like matter [1, 2]? And if so, do these quanta have observable signatures, and do they influence other areas of physics? Now Jacob Covey at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and his colleagues have proposed a way to address these questions [3]. Their strategy involves using a widely distributed quantum state to probe the essential features of quantum theory in the curved spacetime of Earth’s gravitational field.

The team’s proposal is relevant to the problem of quantum gravity—that is, how to coherently and logically combine quantum theory and the general theory of relativity [4]. Many researchers consider this problem to be one of the greatest unsolved puzzles in physics (although some still think that gravity should not be quantized and that the whole concept of quantum gravity might be fundamentally misguided [5]). But compared with other thriving areas of quantum theory and its manifold applications, quantum gravity remains an almost entirely theoretical enterprise that is pursued through string theory, loop quantum gravity, and many other approaches [4]. It is thus inherently nonempirical and speculative, constrained only by our current knowledge of quantum theory and general relativity.