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Making quantum vibrations nonlinear to enable phonon-phonon interactions

Phonons are the quantum units of mechanical vibration. They describe how motion propagates through a solid at the smallest possible scales, in much the same way that electrons describe electric currents. Because phonons can be exceptionally stable and sensitive, they are used in quantum science and technology.

Researchers can already detect and control individual phonons. The problem lies in making phonons interact with each other in a predictable and tunable way, which would be a key requirement for building complex quantum systems like quantum computers.

Interactions are essential in quantum technologies. Whether the goal is sensing tiny forces or processing information, one quantum excitation must be able to influence another. In practice, this requires nonlinearity, which means that adding one excitation changes how the system responds to the next, rather than each excitation behaving independently.

Finding order in disorder: New mechanism amplifies transverse electron transport

For decades, it has been widely believed that electrons move most efficiently in materials that are clean and highly ordered. Much like water flowing more easily through a smooth pipe, conventional wisdom has held that electrical transport improves as a material’s internal structure becomes more perfectly arranged. However, a recent study shows that the opposite can also be true. A research team at POSTECH in South Korea has discovered that engineered disorder can actually enhance electron transport.

The work was conducted by Prof. Hyungyu Jin of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology), Dr. Sang Jun Park (currently a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute for Materials Science, NIMS, Japan), Prof. Hyun-Woo Lee of the Department of Physics at POSTECH, and Ph.D. student Hojun Lee.

Their findings are published in Physical Review Letters.

Now you see it, now you don’t: Material can transition between quantum states

A team of scientists led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has identified a rare, switchable quantum property in a new type of nickel sulfide material. The discovery could have applications in high-speed transistors, adaptive sensors and other devices that require a material’s electronic structure to be controlled on the fly. The research is published in the journal Matter.

The compound, KxNi4S2 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1), contains nickel and sulfur sandwiched between layers of potassium. The “(0 ≤ x ≤ 1)” in the name means that the amount of potassium in the material can vary from no potassium at all to a full potassium atom, depending on the sample.

First detailed in a 2021 paper, it was created as part of an ongoing quest to develop more superconductors. As researchers examined the layered material’s characteristics, they happened upon a remarkable feature: applying an electrical current could drive the potassium layers out, collapsing the sandwich and changing the material’s structure.

Dancing to invisible choreography, quantum computers can balance the noise

Large-scale quantum computers are waiting in the wings. One of the main reasons we don’t have them yet is because quantum hardware is so noisy. This isn’t the type of noise you’d want to shush in a crowded theater. When it comes to computers, noise means errors that crop up when conditions aren’t perfect.

“We need to find a way to detect errors and correct for them,” said graduate student Evangelos Piliouras. Working with physicist Ed Barnes, Piliouras devised a method to reduce the noise and make quantum computers more noise tolerant. His work was published in npj Quantum Information.

Noise can have real-world implications even in a traditional computer, which uses a stream of electrical signals called bits that represent the 1s and 0s that make up binary code. Noise can knock a 0 into a 1, and a credit card transaction, for instance, might fail.

Astronomers Detect Strange “Chirp” From a Supernova, Revealing Hidden Physics

Astronomers studying a distant superluminous supernova uncovered a strange pattern hidden in its light: a rapidly accelerating “chirp.” For decades, astronomers have used distant supernova explosions as cosmic beacons to study fundamental physics and measure properties of the universe. While exam

New Torg Grabber infostealer malware targets 728 crypto wallets

A new info-stealing malware called Torg Grabber is stealing sensitive data from 850 browser extensions, more than 700 of them for cryptocurrency wallets.

Initial access is obtained through the ClickFix technique by hijacking the clipboard and tricking the user into executing a malicious PowerShell command.

According to researchers at cybersecurity company Gen Digital, Torg Grabber is actively developed, with 334 unique samples compiled in three months (between December 2025 and February 2026) and new command-and-control (C2) servers registered every week.

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