Cooling and trapping is a set of experimental techniques used to reduce the kinetic energy of particles, typically atoms or ions, and confine them spatially for precision measurements and quantum control. Laser cooling methods, such as Doppler and sub-Doppler cooling, use resonant light to induce momentum exchange that lowers atomic velocities, while magneto-optical traps (MOTs) combine inhomogeneous magnetic fields with polarized light to provide both cooling and restoring forces. Additional mechanisms, including evaporative cooling and optical or electromagnetic trapping potentials, further reduce temperatures toward the quantum degenerate regime, enabling studies of ultracold gases, atomic clocks, quantum simulation, and controlled quantum information processing.
Bose–Einstein condensates are states of matter that form when particles called bosons are cooled to temperatures that are only a fraction of a degree above absolute zero (i.e., 0 Kelvin [-460°F]). In these states, particles ...
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam and the University of New South Wales have answered a question that has been around for decades: whether ions of the metal ytterbium can enter certain long-lived, nearly stable ...
General Physics
Jul 24, 2026
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The promise of quantum computing is to solve complex problems faster and more energy-efficiently than today's supercomputers—from optimizing logistics to simulating molecules. This goal is coming within reach as the number ...
Quantum Physics
Jul 24, 2026
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196
Sending quantum information through a chain of qubits, like energy through a Newton's cradle, could be the key to faster operations and take quantum computing to the next level.
Quantum Physics
Jul 23, 2026
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46
Heavy polar molecules are some of the most sensitive tools physicists have for probing what lies beyond the Standard Model, the theory that describes the particles and forces we know about. But turning that sensitivity into ...
Quantum networks, systems consisting of multiple connected nodes or devices that can transmit quantum information to one another, have the potential to advance future communications. These networks typically leverage entanglement, ...
Quantum computers, devices that process information by leveraging the laws of quantum mechanics, have been found to outperform classical computers in some advanced tasks. Instead of storing information in the form of classical ...
For the first time, researchers have developed a way to create chilled molecules containing the radioactive element radium. The resulting laboratory concoctions, generated in part through steps similar to those used to make ...
General Physics
Jul 16, 2026
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44
Researchers at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin have developed a new method for trapping and controlling atoms near an ultrathin glass fiber. This has significantly improved the atoms' ability to store quantum information—an ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 14, 2026
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21
Fraunhofer ILT in Aachen has developed a highly complex laser-optical system for a quantum computer currently under construction at the 5th Institute of Physics at the University of Stuttgart. This system enables 2,000 Rydberg ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 6, 2026
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