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Ultrafast holographic imaging reveals electron and magnetic dynamics inside next-generation materials

An extremely fast microscopy method to research the interaction of light and matter makes it possible to study optical processes on very short timescales. To this end, a German–Italian research team is combining holographic imaging with ultrafast spectroscopy in an innovative way. In this manner, even extremely short-lived electronic and magnetic phenomena—which play a major role in the development and application of novel energy materials—can be observed.

The research was conducted as part of an international collaboration between scientists from the Institute for Physical Chemistry at Heidelberg University, the Polytechnic University of Milan, and the Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies in Milan (Italy). The findings are published in the journal Nature Photonics.

At the heart of the research is a pump-probe microscope, which is used to conduct so-called excitation and detection experiments. In this process, the material under investigation is first excited by a short light pulse, while a second pulse records the time-dependent response. By comparing measurements taken with the excitation on and off, these processes can be accurately reconstructed.

Quantum entanglement provides a new framework for understanding chemical bonding

Chemical bonding is one of the central organizing principles of the microscopic world. It determines how atoms combine and thereby governs a wide range of physical and chemical properties of quantum systems across many length scales, ranging from small molecules and biomolecules to macroscopically large solid materials.

Yet, despite its fundamental importance and its prominent role already in high school science education, chemical bonds remain surprisingly elusive from the perspective of quantum mechanics. They are indispensable for describing matter, even though they are not directly observable quantities.

In a recent article published in Nature Communications, the group led by LMU physicist Christian Schilling and member of the MCQST Cluster of Excellence, addresses this long-standing challenge using concepts from quantum information theory.

The generation of massive Schrödinger cat states using ultracold atoms

Quantum mechanics is a physics framework that describes how matter and energy behave at an extremely small scale, specifically at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. An effect predicted by the laws of quantum mechanics is superposition, which entails that particles can exist in multiple states or positions simultaneously, which remain indefinite until they are measured or observed.

A well-known example of a quantum state in which a system behaves as if it is in two contrasting states at once is the so-called Schrödinger cat state. This state is rooted in a paradox introduced by physicist Erwin Schrödinger, who proposed that if a cat is placed inside a sealed box with a device that has a 50% chance of killing it, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead until someone opens the box and looks inside it.

Researchers at Southern University of Science and Technology and the Quantum Science Center of Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area recently demonstrated the experimental generation of massive Schrödinger cat states using ultracold atoms—atoms cooled down to temperatures near to absolute zero.

Electrical ‘knob’ can switch light on, off and tune intensity at the nanoscale

Physicists from Emory University have led work to develop a microscopic, nonlinear light source that can be switched on, off or tuned to a particular intensity by an electrical “knob.” The paper is published in the journal Optica, and could aid in the design of smaller, more flexible technologies for communications, sensing and quantum computing.

The new method focuses on a type of nonlinear optics known as second harmonic generation (SHG), where two photons of the same frequency interact with a material and combine into a single photon with twice the frequency.

“Nobody had previously shown that you can tune second harmonic generation with an electric knob in such a small device,” says Hayk Harutyunyan, senior author of the paper and Emory professor of physics.

Disco lasers helps snow groomers project tracks, warnings and speed cues

When it comes to snow groomers, excavators or crane vehicles, how can their operation be optimized even in difficult conditions and made safer for people in and around the vehicle? An international research team, including the Institute of Visual Computing at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), investigated this question as part of the THEIA-XR project.

The researchers aimed to improve human-machine interaction through the use of extended reality technologies. The focus was on the operator, whose field of perception was to be expanded without negatively affecting control performance. The work is published in the journal Computers & Graphics.

When working with snow groomers, for example, the team from TU Graz found that data or VR headsets tend to be counterproductive, while information projected via a repurposed disco laser proved to be a great help.

Immune ‘energy signature’ linked to tuberculosis may explain why some individuals control infection

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have identified key differences in how immune cells generate and use energy, a process known as cellular metabolism, in people with latent versus active tuberculosis (TB). The findings offer new insights into why some individuals control infection while others develop disease.

The study, published in the Journal of Infection, focused on circulating monocytes, key immune cells involved in the defense against TB infection. The researchers found that cells from people with latent TB remain metabolically flexible, allowing them to mount strong antibacterial responses, whereas cells from people with active TB disease show impaired metabolism and weaker responses to infection.

TB remains the world’s leading infectious killer, with 10.8 million cases and 1.25 million deaths recorded globally in 2023. While many people infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis never become ill, researchers still do not fully understand why some individuals progress to active disease while others successfully control the infection. The findings could help pave the way for improved TB monitoring tools and future therapies or vaccines that target how immune cells generate energy.

Single-cell transcriptomics and RNAi screening define a hierarchical program of planarian eye regeneration

Some organisms have the capacity to regenerate missing organs de novo. Scimone et al. systematically identify the genes that control a sequence of organ-regeneration steps from differentiation of progenitors to the emergence of final architecture for the case of the planarian eye.

Time Itself Seems to Have a Limit of Precision Due to a Quantum Physics Model

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Hello and welcome! My name is Anton and in this video, we will talk about a proposition that time precision has a major limit.
Links:
https://journals.aps.org/prresearch/p…
Other videos: • Atomic Clock Breakthrough Could Lead To Qu…
• Most Accurate Time Keeping Device in the W…
#quantumphysics #time #science.

0:00 Limits of time measurement.
0:45 Quantum mechanics and why some things happen certain ways.
2:38 Spontaneous collapse model explained.
5:00 Gravity doesn’t like quantum stuff.
7:10 New study — effects on time measurement.
8:50 How accurate then?
10:25 Implications.
11:30 Can this be proven?
12:30 Conclusions.

Enjoy and please subscribe.

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