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Category: quantum physics
Electron matter waves gain ultrafast torque that flips handedness in femtoseconds
Many natural processes, ranging from magnetism to chemical reactions, entail the movement and rotation of particles at very small scales. In quantum mechanics, particles exhibit both particle-like and wave-like behaviors, and their states can be described mathematically using representations known as wavefunctions.
The reliable manipulation of wave-like properties of particles as small as atoms or single electrons could open new possibilities both for studying matter and for engineering materials with desirable characteristics. Notably, controlling the angular momentum, which is the quantum property related to rotational motion, of ultrasmall particles at ultrafast timescales has so far proved very challenging when only using conventional, laser-based approaches.
Researchers at Universität Konstanz recently devised a new approach to create electron beams with an ultrafast internal torque (i.e., twisting motion). Their proposed strategy, outlined in a paper published in Nature Physics, could be a promising tool for exploring material dynamics and quantum phenomena at atomic and subatomic scales.
Light rewrites magnetic memory in one pulse, opening path to lower-power AI chips
As artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital services continue to expand, the world is facing a growing need for faster and more energy-efficient ways to store and process information. A team led by the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) has developed a new magnetic memory material that can be rewritten using laser light instead of electric current, a step that could help reduce power consumption in data centers and support future high-speed information systems.
The study is published in Applied Physics Letters.
The new material allows magnetic information to be switched by a single ultrashort laser pulse. Because light can reverse magnetic states much faster than electric current, the approach could deliver switching speeds roughly 1,000 times higher than those of conventional electrically driven magnetic memory while also reducing heat generation and energy loss.
Non-Hermitian Casimir effect of magnons
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AI helps reveal large-scale quantum effects hidden in stacked atomic sheets
Quantum materials are a class of exotic materials with special properties that are governed by quantum mechanics rather than classical physics. Those properties—like superconductivity, entanglement and unusual forms of magnetism—often originate in the tiny repeating patterns of atoms inside crystals, but through clever engineering, they can be observed and controlled at a more human scale. Quantum materials are helping to power the quickly growing field of quantum computing and could find their way into future generations of energy-efficient electronics.
Designing new materials from the atomic scale up, however, requires intense modeling and simulation. Some materials may appear ordinary when viewed as small clusters of atoms, yet reveal new and useful properties when their atomic building blocks repeat and interact over larger distances. Researchers must be able to accurately predict behaviors at large scales in order to find materials with practical applications—otherwise, designing new materials is a slow and costly trial-and-error process.
In the past 50 years, supercomputers have helped materials scientists solve some of those thorny prediction problems, but two recent studies from the University of Washington demonstrate how newer computing techniques can help researchers sniff out promising quantum materials to pursue.
Majorana modes withstand disorder in atomic chains, boosting fault-tolerant quantum computing
Quantum computers—systems that process information and perform computations by leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics—could solve some tasks faster and more effectively than classical computers. While some studies have demonstrated the advantages of these computers for specific tasks, ensuring their reliable operation in real-world settings has proved challenging.
This is partly because quantum information units, or qubits, are known to be highly sensitive to environmental disturbances, such as fluctuations in temperature, electromagnetic fluctuations and magnetic fields. These environmental disturbances, collectively referred to as “noise,” can alter the qubit’s delicate quantum states, leading to computational errors.
In recent years, quantum physicists and engineers have proposed various strategies that could protect qubits from environmental disturbances and reduce quantum computing errors. One proposed solution is to rely on Majorana modes.
Quantum witness technique reveals spinons in quantum spin liquid candidate
Physicists at University College Cork have developed a new approach in the search for a quantum spin liquid, a long-sought state of quantum matter resembling a magnetic liquid whose quantum properties mean it never freezes. The work is a key step in the search for quantum silicon, a mineral that could be used to create quantum computers, just as silicon is used in traditional computers. The resulting paper appears in Nature Physics.
Lead author Prof. Seamus Davis said, “By introducing the quantum witness technique we provide a completely new perspective on the physics of quantum spin liquids and access their internal quantum excitations or ‘spinons’ directly for the first time at UCC.”
As liquids cool, they freeze into solids as their atoms cease to move. But some liquids, such as helium, never freeze. Predominant quantum effects mean they flow as superfluids even at absolute zero (the coldest possible temperature).
This Quantum Detector Boosts Terahertz Sensitivity by 20 Times
The researchers believe the technology could eventually operate at temperatures higher than those required by many competing detector designs. Similar PETS devices have already demonstrated performance at temperatures reachable using compact cryocoolers rather than liquid helium.
That capability could help fill the gap between highly sensitive cryogenic detectors and lower-sensitivity room-temperature technologies, potentially expanding the range of real-world applications.
The study marks the first demonstration of a quantum metasurface photodetector based on a two-dimensional electron system. By combining efficient light collection with a highly sensitive quantum detection mechanism, the work represents a significant step toward overcoming long-standing challenges in terahertz technology.
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