The company has drawn governments, a major chipmaker, and the Pentagon into an effort to control fragile photons and build a useful quantum machine. It aims to be the first.
Category: quantum physics – Page 9
World’s first superconducting quantum heat engine offers path to larger quantum computers
Recent improvements in our understanding of how the principles of thermodynamics apply in the quantum realm could give a boost to quantum technology, and a clearer picture of quantum thermodynamics could in turn enhance our understanding of classical thermodynamics. Now, Aalto University researchers have demonstrated the first cyclic quantum heat engine inside a superconducting circuit.
Physicists have become increasingly fascinated with the idea that classical thermodynamics could be combined with quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics captures the behavior of particles on tiny scales—smaller than atoms—while thermodynamics is about large systems, from molecules up to the entire universe. How do strange quantum phenomena like tunneling, entanglement and superposition mix with the stolid familiarity of the heat engines that kick-started the Industrial Revolution?
Heat engines, like James Watt’s famous steam engine, convert heat into useful energy, or work. They power our cars, ships and planes, and heat engines are how most power plants generate electricity. Now, the world’s first superconducting quantum heat engine has been built: a tiny device consisting of a transmon qubit, a resonator and a quantum refrigerator.
White-beam neutron device unlocks precise control of twisted quantum waves
CANISIUS is the official name of the new spin-echo neutron interferometer developed at Atominstitut, TU Wien. It enables precise control of neutron waves, something that was previously impossible.
Neutrons cannot be imagined as tiny spheres; they have wave properties similar to light. This was spectacularly demonstrated in 1974 at the nuclear reactor of the Atominstitut—and it was precisely here that researchers succeeded in exploiting this wave nature of neutrons in a novel way: A measuring device was developed that can use the angular momentum of neutrons in a particularly clever way for experiments. Not only the intrinsic angular momentum—the spin—but also the orbital angular momentum, which is related to the waveform of the neutron, can be adjusted.
The research is published in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments.
Entanglement Goes Steady
Two independent groups have demonstrated ways to entangle quantum bits without the need for precisely timed control pulses.
Quantum entanglement describes a link, or correlation, between the states of two or more quantum particles. For example, given a pair of entangled qubits—particles that can be in either a ground state or an excited state—measuring the state of one qubit can inform us about the state of the other. Entanglement is puzzling because it has no analogue in the classical world, where our physical intuition can be relied upon. In particular, entanglement appears to violate the principle of locality: The qubits’ states remain correlated even if we move them far apart before measuring them. But entanglement is more than a curiosity: It is also critical to quantum computing, where it serves as a resource for performing quantum algorithms and remote operations between distant qubits.
What Makes Information Physical? | Chiara Marletto
What makes information a real part of physics rather than just a way of describing the world?
Chiara Marletto explains how constructor theory grounds information in physical reality, why information is not merely a human concept, and how knowledge differs from information by possessing the ability to persist and shape the world around it.
0:00 Constructor Theory and the Physics of Information 1:49 Is Information Fundamental to Reality? 4:42 Constructor Theory Beyond Quantum Information 6:31 Information, Knowledge, and Resilience 10:17 Why Knowledge Emerges Above Fundamental Physics.
Chiara Marletto is a Research Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. She holds degrees from the universities of Oxford and Turin. Her main research focus is in theoretical physics, and she also pursues interests in theoretical biology, epistemology, and Italian literature. The Science of Can and Can’t: A Physicist’s Journey Through the Land of Counterfactuals is her first trade book.
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Closer To Truth, created and hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence and sentience. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers. #CloserToTruth #Cosmos #ChiaraMarletto #InformationTheory #Knowledge.
Quantum-gravitational mechanism could explain the universe’s homogeneity
Our universe is known to be remarkably homogeneous and isotropic. This essentially means that matter is distributed evenly throughout the universe and that it looks almost the same in all directions.
Physics theories, however, predict that in its early days, the universe may have been far less orderly, with different regions expanding at varying rates. Yet how the universe could have evolved from this potentially uneven beginning into the smoothness we observe today remains unclear.
Researchers at Baylor University, Jiangxi Normal University, State University of Rio de Janeiro and Universidade Federal Fluminense recently delineated a mechanism that could explain how the universe shifted from early unevenness (i.e., anisotropy) to its current homogeneity. Their theoretical paper, published in Physical Review Letters, models the evolution of the early universe using a framework known as the modified loop quantum cosmology (mLQC-I) model.
The Future Will Be Shaped By Accelerated Technological Development And Visionary Leadership
Chuck Brooks is the president of Brooks Consulting International and one of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Experts.
We are on the brink of a transformative era where rising technologies are colliding to create unparalleled innovation. artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and quantum technologies are transforming research and development, expediting prototyping and disrupting various industries.
This convergence, propelled by exponential processing power, molecular precision and intelligent systems, promises trillions in economic value while posing significant concerns in security, ethics and labor preparedness.
New method brings single-particle quality control to nanocrystal manufacturing
Nanocrystals are already used in millions of devices, including televisions, laptops and displays, and are considered key materials for the next generation of quantum, sensing and solar technologies. However, they have not yet fully realized their potential. One major reason is their inherent heterogeneity: A single solution contains billions of nanocrystals whose properties can differ substantially. Although these particles can be characterized, important quality parameters are typically accessible only as average values across the entire sample.
“For their function in devices, these average values are insufficient,” says Professor Emiliano Cortés, who conducts research at LMU’s Nano-Institute. “Each individual nanoparticle can behave differently—for example, in its size or in how efficiently it emits light, meaning how effectively it converts absorbed energy back into light.”
Light Can Act as a Quantum Brake to Slow Movement in The Nanoworld, Scientists Discover
The fundamentals of light continue to fascinate scientists and reveal new secrets – including how its effects can be counterintuitive.
Conventional wisdom suggests that light adds energy to heat up particles or set them in motion.
But scientists just caught light doing the opposite: acting as an invisible brake at scales almost too small to imagine.