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. In the quirky quantum world, particles can be affected by forces that they never directly encounter. A classic example is the Aharonov–Bohm (AB) effect, where electrons are affected by a magnetic field, despite not passing through it. Although predicted in 1959, it took more than two decades to confirm this effect experimentally, as the specific changes to the electrons' wave properties could only be inferred indirectly, and with great difficulty. Now, physicists from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), in collaboration with the University of Oslo and Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, have used a classical fluid analog that mimics and extends the AB effect using a simple platform: a water tank. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-simulation-famous-quantum-effect-reveals.html Soft Matter Mon, 20 Apr 2026 05:00:01 EDT news695634547 Researchers in the UC Santa Barbara Materials Department have uncovered the elusive quantum mechanism by which energetic electrons break chemical bonds inside microelectronic devices—a detrimental process that slowly degrades performance over time. The discovery, published as an Editors' Suggestion in Physical Review B, explains decades-old experimental puzzles and moves scientists closer to engineering more reliable devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-electrons-silicon-chips.html Condensed Matter Sun, 19 Apr 2026 09:00:02 EDT news695402653 A new study published in Nature Communications has shown that in the asymptotic limit, extracting the maximum possible work from many copies of a quantum system does not require knowing exactly what state that system is in. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-universal-quantum-protocol-maximum-state.html Quantum Physics Sat, 18 Apr 2026 10:00:08 EDT news695563531 A joint research team led by Professor Park Kyoung-Duck and Associate Director Suh Yung Doug of the Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has succeeded in realizing a high-efficiency quantum light source that emits bright lights even at room temperature. The study is published in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-bright-quantum-emission-room-temperature.html Optics & Photonics Sat, 18 Apr 2026 09:00:01 EDT news695395962 An AI model informed by calculations from a quantum computer can better predict the behavior of a complex physical system over the long term than current best models that use only conventional computers, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, could improve models predicting how liquids and gases move and interact (fluid dynamics), used in areas ranging from climate science to transport, medicine and energy generation. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-ai-term-turbulence-memory.html Soft Matter Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:00:07 EDT news695574962 A new Bar-Ilan University study points to a major advance in quantum information processing, demonstrating a way to send, manipulate, and measure quantum information across many frequency channels simultaneously, rather than one at a time. The study was recently published in the journal Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-bottleneck-wide-channels.html Optics & Photonics Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:30:01 EDT news695575381 Thin films might not come up in conversation every day, but they are all around us. Take the metallic plastic films of chip bags, for example, or the anti-reflective coatings on eyeglasses. Even the coatings on pills that make them easier to swallow are thin films. Depositing extremely thin layers of materials in a consistent and uniform way is also crucial to the production of semiconductors, which are the foundation of modern electronics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-laser-method-kelvin-thin-synthesis.html Superconductivity Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:20:02 EDT news695573468 The spin-off company ParityQC has implemented the largest quantum Fourier transform ever reported using an IBM quantum computer, thereby setting a new milestone on the path toward the industrial application of quantum computers. The quantum Fourier transform is a cornerstone algorithm with applications in cryptography, financial modeling, and materials science. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-fourier-qubits-shattering-previous.html Quantum Physics Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:20:08 EDT news695556421 Quantum technologies like quantum computers are built from quantum materials. These types of materials exhibit quantum properties when exposed to the right conditions. Curiously, engineers can also trigger quantum behavior by manipulating a material's structure; for example, by stacking layers of graphene on top of each other and twisting them to create a moiré pattern, which suddenly turns them into a superconductor. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-algorithm-million-site-quasicrystal.html Quantum Physics Wed, 15 Apr 2026 19:50:01 EDT news695491622 Researchers from the Department of Energy's Quantum Science Center (QSC) headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have achieved a significant milestone by demonstrating the first digital quantum simulations of how spin currents change over time in a 1-D model of a quantum spin material. The results, now published in Physical Review Letters, establish a new, programmable way to use quantum computers to study the transport of spin—a fundamental quantum variable—in materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-simulations-reveal-1d-materials.html Condensed Matter Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:20:01 EDT news695486850 Computer chips that cram billions of electronic devices into a few square inches have powered the digital economy and transformed the world. Scientists may be on the cusp of launching a similar technological revolution—this time using light. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-scientists-wavelength-lasers-tiny-circuits.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:40:13 EDT news695473441 A special class of sensors leverages quantum properties to measure tiny signals at levels that would be impossible using classical sensors alone. Such quantum sensors are currently being used to study the inner workings of cells and the outer depths of our universe. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-multitasking-quantum-sensors-properties.html Quantum Physics Wed, 15 Apr 2026 08:40:01 EDT news695461141 A major obstacle in the development of powerful quantum computers is the growing number of cables required to control a computer as the number of qubits increases. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now demonstrated that several qubits can share the same cable—without significantly increasing computation time. Their study is the most comprehensive of its kind and could become an important piece of the puzzle in developing quantum computers. These computers have the potential to revolutionize such areas as drug development and logistics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-smart-cable-quantum-big-boost.html Quantum Physics Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:00:03 EDT news695390881 Beginning in the 1950s, silicon transformed the electronics industry by enabling smaller and faster devices that could be reliably manufactured at scale. More than six decades later, silicon-based semiconductors remain at the heart of many modern technologies, including so-called "classical" computers. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-silicon-compatible-path-scalable-quantum.html Condensed Matter Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:30:01 EDT news695401681 In quantum physics, objects can exist in multiple states at the same time—a phenomenon known as quantum superposition, where a particle does not have a single definite value of position or momentum until it is measured. A major open question is whether gravity, one of the fundamental forces, also follows the quantum rule. One way to examine this is through gravity-induced entanglement, in which two objects that interact only via gravity become quantum mechanically linked. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mirror-positioning-method-quantum-gravity.html General Physics Tue, 14 Apr 2026 14:40:05 EDT news695386261 For the last 80 years, the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED), which describes all electromagnetic interactions, has been a cornerstone of the standard model, withstanding the scrutiny of countless experiments and agreeing with observations down to the smallest known precisions. Yet, some high-intensity scales of QED remain unexplored, prompting some to wonder if quantum computers could deal with these scales' inherent complexity. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-simulations-tackle-photon-polarization.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:20:09 EDT news695384043 A key factor for the performance of sensors is the speed at which the system returns to its initial state after a disturbance or measurement, similar to the taring of a balance. In the quantum sensor under investigation, this corresponds to the transition of electrons from an energetically excited state to the ground state. However, the electrons remain in a kind of metastable intermediate state for a short time. A team of physicists from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) has now directly measured this waiting time in a two-dimensional material: It lasts exactly 24 billionths of a second. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-sensors-precision-boost-2d.html Condensed Matter Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:20:04 EDT news695312222 Quantum computers stand to revolutionize research by helping investigators solve certain problems exponentially faster than with conventional computers. Current quantum computers encounter a challenge where they lose stored information in a process known as quantum scrambling. However, scientists at the University of California, Irvine have discovered a method to enable computers to preserve the data that would otherwise be lost during the scrambling process. The research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-physicists-reverse-quantum-scrambling.html Quantum Physics Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:50:01 EDT news695317141 Superconductors—materials that can conduct electricity without energy loss—are crucial for next-generation high-efficiency, ultrafast electronics. However, most superconductors share a critical limitation: they lose their superconducting properties in strong magnetic fields. In contrast, a class of superconductors containing heavy elements can sustain an unusual type of superconductivity in magnetic fields beyond the conventional limit. Now, new research has demonstrated that this limitation can be overcome by sandwiching atomically thin films of a lightweight element called gallium between two other materials to engineer quantum interactions at the interfaces between the layers. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-unusual-superconductivity-lightweight-element.html Superconductivity Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:00:03 EDT news695304894 Physicists in China have simulated the effect of "false vacuum decay": a phenomenon believed to play out constantly in the seemingly empty expanses of space, and which one theory even suggests could bring an abrupt end to the entire universe. In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, Yu-Xin Chao and colleagues at Tsinghua University, Beijing, mimicked the effect using a simple tabletop experiment. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tabletop-atoms-universe-doomsday-vacuum.html General Physics Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:00:04 EDT news695295202 A new study, published in Physical Review Letters, reports that scientists have successfully imaged the formation of cavity-induced density waves induced by laser light in an ultracold quantum gas. Previously, only global signals, such as photon leakage or the peak in energy deposition of a fast charged particle (Bragg peaks), have been used to detect this kind of ordering. Prior to this study, there had been no direct, high-resolution in situ imaging of cavity-induced density-wave order in ultracold gases. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-high-resolution-imaging-captures-cavity.html Optics & Photonics Sat, 11 Apr 2026 11:50:01 EDT news694782569 A Majorana fermion is a particle that would be identical to its antiparticle. Such an object has not yet been found. However, certain solid materials exhibit analogous behavior as if Majorana fermions were present through collective excitations of the system called quasiparticles. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-poor-majoranas-quantum-probes.html Condensed Matter Sat, 11 Apr 2026 08:00:04 EDT news695029562 Crystals, bacterial colonies, flame fronts: the growth of surfaces was first described in the 1980s by the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang equation. Since then, it has been regarded as a fundamental model in physics, with implications for mathematics, biology, and computer science. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-universal-surface-growth-law-dimensions.html General Physics Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:20:02 EDT news695047237 Researchers at ETH Zurich have realized particularly stable quantum logical operations with qubits made of neutral atoms. Since these operations, called quantum gates, are based on geometric phases, they are extremely robust against experimental noise and can be used in quantum computers in the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-robust-noise-geometric-phase-swap.html Quantum Physics Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:20:05 EDT news694872394 A new analysis reveals what happens when very short or narrow electron beams encounter a particle. The research is published in the New Journal of Physics. Scientists should be able to achieve a new level of control over high-energy electrons interacting with a particle, according to the theoretical analysis by a RIKEN physicist and two colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-electronatom-encodes-quantum-state-electron.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:40:02 EDT news694869137 Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have reported important progress in quantum physics and materials science by optically initializing, controlling, and reading out nuclear spin states in a molecular material for the first time. Because of their weak interaction with the environment, nuclear spins are particularly stable quantum information carriers. The research, published in Nature Materials, shows that molecular nuclear spins could be a promising building block for future quantum technologies. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-optical-nuclear-molecules-paths-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:00:01 EDT news694866541 Mid-circuit measurements are one of the biggest practical hurdles in quantum error correction on encoded qubits. Researchers in Innsbruck and Aachen have now proposed and experimentally demonstrated that a universal fault-tolerant quantum algorithm can be executed without such measurements. Using a trapped-ion quantum processor, the team successfully ran Grover's quantum search algorithm on three logical qubits. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum.html Quantum Physics Tue, 07 Apr 2026 09:20:05 EDT news694770721 Most people think of diamonds as high-end adornments. Not Ania Bleszynski Jayich. The UC Santa Barbara physicist sees diamonds, which she grows in the UC Quantum Foundry, as a potentially powerful foundation for quantum sensors. Sensors are currently much farther along in their development than other potential quantum applications. Diamond sensors are particularly promising because diamonds require relatively few quantum bits (qubits) to operate, whereas a quantum computer, for instance, requires more than 100,000, perhaps as many as a million, qubits to handle error correction, one of the main hurdles for quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-mechanical-boost-diamond-quantum-sensor.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:30:01 EDT news694710121 Quantum mechanics tells us that a particle can never be perfectly still. But how precisely can it be oriented? A research team at the University of Vienna, together with colleagues at TU Wien and Ulm University, has now cooled the rotational motion of a levitated silica nanorotor all the way to its quantum ground state—in two orientational degrees of freedom. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-ground-state-rotation-dimensions.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 06 Apr 2026 12:20:03 EDT news694688821 The electrons that power our society flow left and right through the circuitry in our electronics, back and forth along the transmission lines that make up our power grid, and up and down to light up every floor of every building. But the electrons in newly discovered "moiré crystals" move in much stranger ways. They can move left and right, back and forth, or up and down in our three-dimensional world, but these electrons also act as if they can teleport in and out of a mysterious fourth dimension of space that is perpendicular to our perceivable reality. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-electrons-moir-crystals-explore-higher.html Condensed Matter Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:00:03 EDT news694685941