Quantum theory needs complex numbers

Physicists construct theories to describe nature. Let us explain it through an analogy with something that we can do in our everyday life, like going on a hike in the mountains. To avoid getting lost, we generally use a map. ...

Why are optical refractive indices so small?

Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon cover, voted the greatest classical rock album of all time, intended to portray the prism and dispersion of light into a rainbow as a certain metaphorical symbolism and a light show that ...

New approach to exotic quantum matter

In a three-dimensional world, all particles must be either fermions or bosons, but in fewer dimensions, the existence of particles known as anyons, which have intermediate quantum statistics, is possible. Such fascinating ...

Smallest cavity for light realized by graphene plasmons

Miniaturization has enabled technology like smartphones, health watches, medical probes and nano-satellites, all unthinkable a couple decades ago. Just imagine that in the course of 60 years, the transistor has shrunk from ...

'Hot and messy' entanglement of 15 trillion atoms

Quantum entanglement is a process by which microscopic objects like electrons or atoms lose their individuality to become better coordinated with each other. Entanglement is at the heart of quantum technologies that promise ...

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