Illustration of the magneto-mechanical resonator array used in the experiment. Image credit: Gengming Liu

Researchers show a new way to induce useful defects using invisible material properties

Much of modern electronic and computing technology is based on one idea: add chemical impurities, or defects, to semiconductors to change their ability to conduct electricity. These altered materials are then combined in different ways to produce the devices that form the basis for digital computing, transistors, and diodes. Indeed, some quantum information technologies are based on a similar principle: adding defects and specific atoms within materials can produce qubits, the fundamental information storage units of quantum computing.

Professor Michael Hecht and co-author on the quantum dot research Yueyu Yao in Frick Laboratory. Photo by Jesse Condon

Quantum dots at room temp, using lab-designed protein

Quantum dots are normally made in industrial settings with high temperatures and toxic, expensive solvents — a process that is neither economical nor environmentally friendly. But researchers have now pulled off the process at the bench using water as a solvent, making a stable end-product at room temperature. Their work opens the door to making nanomaterials in a more sustainable way by demonstrating that protein sequences not derived from nature can be used to synthesize functional materials.

In Borromean rings, each circle holds the pattern together by passing through the other two circles. Image: Alexandr Kakinen.

A peculiar protected structure links Viking knots with quantum vortices

Scientists have shown how three vortices can be linked in a way that prevents them from being dismantled. The structure of the links resembles a pattern used by Vikings and other ancient cultures, although this study focused on vortices in a special form of matter known as a Bose-Einstein condensate. The findings have implications for quantum computing, particle physics and other fields.

Artistic representation of a curved space using the example of the Heidelberg experiment. Curving the spacetime of the universe requires huge masses or energies. For the effective spacetime generated by a Bose-Einstein condensate, however, the research team only manipulated the density distribution of the condensate. In addition, expansion was simulated by adjusting the interaction between the atoms. | © Celia Viermann

Curved spacetime in the lab

In a laboratory experiment, researchers have succeeded in realizing an effective spacetime that can be manipulated. In their research on ultracold quantum gases, they were able to simulate an entire family of curved universes to investigate different cosmological scenarios and compare them with the predictions of a quantum field theoretical model.

Cryostat used to achieve temperatures down to 20 millikelvin. Source: HZDR/Jürgen Jeibmann

An exotic interplay of electrons

Water that simply will not freeze, no matter how cold it gets — a research group has discovered a quantum state that could be described in this way. Experts have managed to cool a special material to near absolute zero temperature. They found that a central property of atoms — their alignment — did not ‘freeze’, as usual, but remained in a ‘liquid’ state. The new quantum material could serve as a model system to develop novel, highly sensitive quantum sensors.

Artwork depicting a quantum experiment that observes traversable wormhole behavior. Credit: inqnet/A. Mueller (Caltech)

Physicists observe wormhole dynamics using a quantum computer

Scientists have, for the first time, developed a quantum experiment that allows them to study the dynamics, or behavior, of a special kind of theoretical wormhole. The experiment has not created an actual wormhole (a rupture in space and time), rather it allows researchers to probe connections between theoretical wormholes and quantum physics, a prediction of so-called quantum gravity. Quantum gravity refers to a set of theories that seek to connect gravity with quantum physics, two fundamental and well-studied descriptions of nature that appear inherently incompatible with each other.

The basic idea is to achieve quantum control through the application of the AI agent (left). For instance, to cool the quantum ball (red) down to the bottom of the well in presence of environmental noises, the AI controller, which is based on reinforcement learning, would identify intelligent control pulses (middle polar graph).

Pulses driven by artificial intelligence tame quantum systems

It’s easy to control the trajectory of a basketball: all we have to do is apply mechanical force coupled with human skill. But controlling the movement of quantum systems such as atoms and electrons is much more challenging, as these minuscule scraps of matter often fall prey to perturbations that knock them off their path in unpredictable ways. Movement within the system degrades — a process called damping — and noise from environmental effects such as temperature also disturbs its trajectory.

Results of geometry optimizations for H2 molecule. Geometry optimizations with various initial values of the H–H interatomic distance revealed that the calculation quickly converges to the equilibrium bond length within 10 iterations, no matter which interatomic distance is used to start the calculation.

Quantum algorithm of the direct calculation of energy derivatives developed for molecular geometry optimization

Researchers have successfully extended the quantum phase difference estimation algorithm, a general quantum algorithm for the direct calculations of energy gaps, to enable the direct calculation of energy differences between two different molecular geometries. This allows for the computation, based on the finite difference method, of energy derivatives with respect to nuclear coordinates in a single calculation.

Entanglement, a special property of nature at the quantum level, is a correlation between two or more objects. A research team recently harnessed entanglement to develop more precise networked quantum sensors. (Image by Brookhaven National Laboratory.)

The entanglement advantage

Researchers have demonstrated a way to entangle atoms to create a network of atomic clocks and accelerometers. The method has resulted in greater precision in measuring time and acceleration.

With only two levels of superposition, the qubits used in today’s quantum communication technologies have limited storage space and low tolerance for interference. The Feng Lab’s hyperdimensional microlaser (above) generates qudits, photons with four simultaneous levels of information. The increase in dimension makes for robust quantum communication technology better suited for real-world applications.

Microlaser chip adds new dimensions to quantum communication

Researchers at Penn Engineering have created a chip that outstrips the security and robustness of existing quantum communications hardware. Their technology communicates in “qudits,” doubling the quantum information space of any previous on-chip laser.

Researchers created a grid of quantum dots (center) ranging from one to three phosphorus atoms deposited onto a plane embedded in silicon and studied the properties of electrons injected into the grid. Credit: Wang et al./NIST

Quantum Dot Grids Reveal Electron Behavior in Controlled Environments

NIST researchers created atom-sized quantum dot grids to study electron behavior in controlled environments, observing wave-like properties in closely-spaced configurations and localized behavior in distant arrangements, with potential applications for quantum simulation and the development of exotic materials that exceed the modeling capabilities of conventional supercomputers.

Schematic depiction of interaction-induced magnetism in a 2D MOF and how substrates influence it.

Magnetism: Influence of substrates on electronic interactions

A new study illustrates how substrates affect electronic interactions in 2D metal-organic frameworks. With electronic properties tuneable by electrical charge, mechanical strain, and hybridization, such structures can be ‘switched’ off and on, allowing potential applications in future energy-efficient electronics.

The second challenge. Stills from the video captured using “cinematic chemistry” of the blue quantum dot, including an illustration showing the atomic arrangement of the sample. ©2022 Nakamura et al.

New blue quantum dot technology for more energy-efficient displays

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed highly efficient blue quantum dots using a novel bottom-up, self-organizing chemical approach, solving a critical challenge in display technology while requiring advanced “cinematic chemistry” imaging techniques to visualize the precisely structured 2.4-nanometer nanocrystals.

An artist's impression of a quantum microscope for study of chemical reactions and to identify molecular origin. Credit: Dr Mehran Kianinia

Australian Team Unveils Revolutionary Quantum Microscope

Australian scientists have developed a groundbreaking quantum microscope that uses atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride layers instead of traditional bulky crystals, enabling unprecedented imaging of electric currents, magnetic fields, and single molecules while simultaneously mapping temperature distributions under ambient conditions.

Colloidal quantum dots with truncated cube shape and their original ligands (organic molecules) assembling into an ordered superlattice after the ligand exchange. | Illustration Jacopo Pinna

Breakthrough in Quantum Dot Metamaterials

Researchers at the University of Groningen led by Professor Maria Antonietta Loi have successfully created a highly conductive optoelectronic metamaterial by developing a method for quantum dots to self-organize into a three-dimensional superlattice that maintains their unique optical characteristics while achieving unprecedented electron mobility.

The team led by Wolfgang Lechner (right): Kilian Ender, Anette Messinger and Michael Fellner (from left).

New form of universal quantum computers

Computing power of quantum machines is currently still very low. Increasing it is still proving to be a major challenge. Physicists now present a new architecture for a universal quantum computer that overcomes such limitations and could be the basis of the next generation of quantum computers soon.

New hybrid structures could pave the way to more stable quantum computers

Breakthrough in Topological Superconductivity: A Path to Stable Quantum Computing

A new way to combine two materials with special electrical properties — a monolayer superconductor and a topological insulator — provides the best platform to date to explore an unusual form of superconductivity called topological superconductivity. The combination could provide the basis for topological quantum computers that are more stable than their traditional counterparts.