https://phys.org/physics-news/quantum-physics/ en-us The latest news on quantum physics, wave particle duality, quantum theory, quantum mechanics, quantum entanglement, quantum teleportation, and quantum computing. Recent improvements in our understanding of how the principles of thermodynamics apply in the quantum realm could give a boost to quantum technology, and a clearer picture of quantum thermodynamics could in turn enhance our understanding of classical thermodynamics. Now, Aalto University researchers have demonstrated the first cyclic quantum heat engine inside a superconducting circuit. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-world-superconducting-quantum-path-larger.html Quantum Physics Mon, 13 Jul 2026 05:00:01 EDT news702907773 Proving that one quantum measurement is more powerful than another has long been difficult. Physicists from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Lund University and the University of Innsbruck have now developed and demonstrated a simple technique to certify that a certain class of measurements has properties that cannot be mimicked by simpler means. Their paper is published in the journal PRX Quantum. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-certifies-quantum-simpler-methods-mimic.html Quantum Physics Fri, 10 Jul 2026 13:00:01 EDT news702896090 A team of researchers at the University of Ottawa and its Nexus for Quantum Technologies Institute, in collaboration with researchers from Federico II University in Italy, has developed a programmable quantum simulator that shapes a beam of light to replicate how particles move through complex materials, avoiding the need for ever-larger electronic hardware. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-programmable-simulates-quantum-bigger-circuits.html Quantum Physics Thu, 09 Jul 2026 17:40:06 EDT news702831335 Researchers at The University of Manchester have developed a new computational approach to help identify two-dimensional materials that may host unusual quantum behavior. The work, published in Science Advances, focuses on materials with "flat bands," electronic states where electrons have very little kinetic energy. In these materials, interactions between electrons can become much more important, creating conditions linked to phenomena such as magnetism, unconventional superconductivity and topological electronic behavior. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-physics-based-machine-method-2d.html Condensed Matter Thu, 09 Jul 2026 15:10:02 EDT news702822058 By combining approaches from two rapidly growing fields of quantum physics, researchers at Penn State and Saint Louis University have demonstrated that a novel specialized material can naturally enable a new way to study unusual physical phenomena known as non-Hermitian dynamics. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-material-path-unusual-electronic.html Condensed Matter Thu, 09 Jul 2026 14:10:03 EDT news702822021 Quantum computers still face limits when it comes to storing information. Researchers at ETH Zurich are now turning to mechanical vibrations rather than electromagnetic memory. Their new vibrating memory can store significantly more information in a smaller volume. Combined with a suitable computer architecture, it also enables the efficient solution of complex computational problems. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-mechanical-vibrations-magnetic-memory-quantum.html General Physics Thu, 09 Jul 2026 10:40:17 EDT news702807933 Underpinning much of modern technology, from smartphones to scanning tunneling microscopes to particle colliders, is Fermi's Golden Rule. Named for 20th-century Italian American physicist Enrico Fermi (but actually discovered by British physicist Paul Dirac), the rule is a formula that connects what can be measured in an experiment—such as how fast atoms "jump" between energy states—to the microscopic properties of a quantum mechanical system. The formula is taught in every undergraduate quantum physics class. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ingredients-blueprint-fermi-golden.html Quantum Physics Thu, 09 Jul 2026 08:20:03 EDT news702802093 Quantum computers, devices that store and process information leveraging the principles of quantum mechanics, have been found to be promising for tackling some problems that cannot be solved by classical computers. Quantum computers store data in the form of qubits (i.e., quantum bits), units of information that can exist in combinations of different states, instead of being limited to a binary value (i.e., 0 or 1), like classical bits. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-theorized-electron-helium-qubit-strong.html General Physics Wed, 08 Jul 2026 10:20:02 EDT news702711987 A team of scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Cleveland Clinic and IBM has calculated nine molecular configurations of a promising material to produce fuel for fusion energy—the first known instance of such computations on quantum computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-fusion-fuel-material-configurations.html Quantum Physics Tue, 07 Jul 2026 15:40:01 EDT news702654741 Researchers from the Quantum Hardware group at CIC nanoGUNE, in collaboration with the British company Quantum Motion, have demonstrated an advanced readout sensor for spin qubits that, while being more compact than previous designs, can reach the level of readout precision needed to implement quantum error correction protocols. The study has been published in the journal Nature Sensors. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ultra-compact-sensor-paves-powerful.html Condensed Matter Tue, 07 Jul 2026 13:20:01 EDT news702639003 Electrons, negatively charged particles, sometimes coordinate their movements in ways that produce certain collective excitations referred to as quasiparticles. One case in which this occurs is the quantum Hall effect, a phenomenon that emerges when electrons are confined to a very thin layer, cooled to temperatures around 0 kelvin and exposed to a very strong magnetic field. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-evidence-elusive-high-energy-gravitons.html Condensed Matter Tue, 07 Jul 2026 10:00:08 EDT news702543513 Physicists have long puzzled over a strange contradiction inside a family of minerals called rutile oxides. These materials all share the same crystal structure—but while some of them, like titanium dioxide, are firmly insulating, others, like ruthenium dioxide, conduct electricity like a metal. So far, physicists have had little idea of why this happens. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-metallic-rutile-oxides-cooling.html Condensed Matter Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:00:09 EDT news702627994 Werner Heisenberg's famous uncertainty principle describes one of the most intriguing features of quantum physics: certain pairs of physical quantities describing a particle, such as position and momentum, cannot simultaneously be determined with arbitrary precision—not because of imprecise measuring instruments, but because nature forbids it. Between position and time, however, there is no Heisenberg uncertainty principle. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ultrafast-scanning-tunneling-microscopy-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 03 Jul 2026 12:00:06 EDT news702290288 Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method that uses a single ion to detect electromagnetic fields above a surface and to create a three-dimensional map of them. In the future, this approach can be used to improve chips for quantum computers and quantum sensors. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ion-3d-electromagnetic-fields-chips.html Condensed Matter Thu, 02 Jul 2026 18:20:04 EDT news702223023 Quantum materials, materials exhibiting physical behavior governed by the laws of quantum mechanics, have proved promising for the development of numerous advanced technologies, including quantum technologies, memory devices and solar panels. In some of these materials, electrons can collectively arrange themselves in unusual patterns, giving rise to states that cannot be explained by classical physics theories. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-spontaneous-current-loops-kagome-metal.html Condensed Matter Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:20:07 EDT news702218355 Quantum properties of light are extremely delicate. When researchers attempt to measure them, even small losses on the way to a detector can make them invisible, limiting their use outside carefully controlled environments. A collaborative team of researchers involving scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) has shown a new way to measure several quantum channels of light at the same time and reveal their entanglement, even when almost all of the light is lost before reaching the detector. The results, recently published in Nature Communications, open new possibilities for scalable quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-properties-multimode-extreme-losses.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:20:04 EDT news702215161 Everything around us, from atoms and molecules to planets and galaxies, is governed by two extraordinarily successful theories of physics: quantum mechanics and gravity. Quantum mechanics explains the behavior of the microscopic world, while Einstein's theory of gravity describes the motion of stars, black holes and the expansion of the universe. Yet despite their successes, physicists are still searching for a theory of "quantum gravity" that would unite them into a single description of nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-gravity-ordinary-spacetime-superposition.html General Physics Thu, 02 Jul 2026 12:20:08 EDT news702208921 Dark matter accounts for 85% of the matter in the universe, but scientists still do not know what it is made of. A study, published in Physical Review Letters, by Rice University researchers proposes a detector design that could help search for axions, hypothetical particles that many physicists think could make up dark matter. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quantum-semiconductor-dark.html General Physics Thu, 02 Jul 2026 10:00:03 EDT news702203102 Hawking radiation is a form of radiation emitted by black holes, as theoretically predicted by Stephen Hawking. It suggests that black holes do not merely swallow matter—as had previously been assumed—but also emit very faint radiation themselves. This radiation has not yet been observed in space; instead, researchers use models in the laboratory that mimic the behavior of black holes. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-analog-gravity-advance-insights-hawking.html General Physics Thu, 02 Jul 2026 09:40:03 EDT news702202982 By remotely accessing an IBM quantum computer, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has successfully simulated a key process in particle physics: hadronization. Although based on a simplified model of quantum mechanics, the project lays the groundwork for how physicists can leverage the power of quantum computers to make large scientific calculations beyond the capabilities of classical supercomputers. The research is published in the journal Physical Review D. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-quantum-simulates-hadronization-qubits.html General Physics Tue, 30 Jun 2026 18:40:01 EDT news702058201 In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers have demonstrated the Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) effect with up to 12 indistinguishable neutral atoms—an effect that has been predominantly observed in photonic systems. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-physicists-hongoumandel-atoms.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:00:01 EDT news702035661 Plutonium is one of the most complex elements in the periodic table. First synthesized and isolated in 1940 by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, plutonium has been studied closely for more than eight decades. It's most often associated with its role in nuclear security, but it's also vital to nuclear power, where it is produced in reactors and can be recycled as fuel. Despite plutonium's importance, some of its most fundamental behaviors remain a mystery. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-plutonium-compound-rare-topological-quantum.html General Physics Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:30:01 EDT news701969521 In quantum mechanics, the geometry of quantum states has emerged as a powerful framework for understanding phenomena ranging from electrical conductivity to superconductivity. One research direction aims to extend these geometric concepts to non-Hermitian quantum mechanics—where systems can exchange energy with their environment—including the generalization of the Berry phase, a key geometric quantity, to the non-Hermitian case. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-hermitian-geometry-reveals-quantum-amplification.html General Physics Sat, 27 Jun 2026 11:00:02 EDT news701439389 Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have developed a technique for interrogating molecules on surfaces with spectroscopic precision, thereby reaching the ultimate quantum limit for the first time. With their findings, published in Science, the researchers open new opportunities for the study of molecule-surface interactions and molecular quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-crystal-surface-molecules-ultimate-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 26 Jun 2026 17:00:01 EDT news701698772 Physicists at Paderborn University have, for the first time, experimentally demonstrated the so-called "return" of Rabi oscillations in semiconductor quantum dots. The phenomenon, which was first predicted theoretically in 2007, describes the decrease in the emission intensity of the quantum dots, which are initially damped by interactions with the lattice vibrations of a solid (phonons). https://phys.org/news/2026-06-semiconductor-quantum-dots-reawaken-rabi.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:00:04 EDT news701694781 Controlling and trapping molecules, units of a substance consisting of two or more chemically bound atoms, with laser light is significantly more challenging than trapping individual atoms. This is because molecules exhibit more complex vibrational and rotational dynamics that make them more difficult to cool and trap. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-metal-hydride-molecule-laser-path.html General Physics Fri, 26 Jun 2026 07:40:01 EDT news701522897 It's one thing to design a pharmaceutical drug. It's another to know if and why it actually works; not on paper or in a computer model, but inside the chaotic world of living systems, where proteins twist into shape, atoms constantly pull and push each other apart, and molecular interactions are the difference between health and disease. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-scientists-hidden-quantum-power-generation.html Quantum Physics Thu, 25 Jun 2026 16:20:10 EDT news701617438 Strongly interacting quantum particles are key to some of the most fascinating phenomena in modern physics—from magnetism and superconductivity to topological states. Yet the complexity of such systems makes many of their properties difficult to understand even today. A research team from Innsbruck and Turin has now proposed a new theoretical framework for generating and studying these exotic states of matter in ultracold magnetic atoms in a one-dimensional lattice. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-exotic-quantum-phases-ultracold-magnetic.html Superconductivity Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:20:09 EDT news701607901 Trions form when three particles, like quarks or electrons, come together. This formation occurs in quantum particles in nuclear physics, semiconductors and magnets, and understanding its behavior can be challenging. Rice University's Kaden Hazzard and his team recently developed a theory on how these formations occur and behave, which was published in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-trios-quantum-particles-checkerboard-layouts.html Quantum Physics Thu, 25 Jun 2026 10:40:03 EDT news701597161 Gravity, the force that attracts objects toward each other, is currently framed by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity. This framework describes gravity as the curvature of spacetime, the invisible four-dimensional fabric of the universe. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-thermodynamic-approach-gravity-cosmic-dark.html General Physics Thu, 25 Jun 2026 08:20:01 EDT news701522878