Feature Channels: Quantum Mechanics

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Rresearchers at Aalto University in Finland and IAS Tsinghua University in China report a new way to predict how quantum systems, such as groups of particles, behave when they are connected to the external environment. Usually, connecting a system such as a quantum computer to its environment creates decoherence and leaks, which ruin any information about what’s happening inside the system. Now, the researchers developed a technique which turns that problem into its a solution.

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Deborah Frincke, associate laboratories director of national security programs at Sandia National Laboratories, has been appointed to the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee.

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A new form of heterostructure of layered two-dimensional (2D) materials may enable quantum computing to overcome key barriers to its widespread application, according to an international team of researchers.

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“Twisted” X-ray beams carrying orbital angular momentum hold great promise for imaging and probing materials at the nanoscale. Scientists have now developed and demonstrated a new technique that uses a special patterned array of engineered nanoscale magnets called an artificial spin ice to impart OAM to X-ray beams. The beams can be switched on and off using changes in temperature and magnetic fields.

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Moiré patterns can occur when scientists stack two-dimensional crystals with mismatched atomic spacings. Moiré superlattices display exotic physical properties that are absent in the layers that make up the patterns. Researchers have discovered a new property in the moiré superlattices formed in tungsten diselenide/tungsten disulfide crystals, in which the electrons “freeze” and form an ordered array.

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The resulting distortions are 'huge' compared to those in other materials, and represent the first demonstration of the Jahn-Teller effect in a layered material with a flat, planar lattice, like a high-rise building with evenly spaced floors.

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Nuclear physicists have found a way to peer inside the deepest recesses of atomic nuclei, according to a new study.

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Following the screening of the movie, leading experts in quantum science discussed the quantum realm in Marvel’s universe and in ours. Guests were also treated to a hands-on demo of the Quantum Casino, a fun, game-based introduction to quantum physics.

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Let’s see, thought James Vary, how can we have a little fun with the name of our $1 million nuclear physics project?

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Solar panels with multiple stacked cells are currently breaking records. Remarkably, a team of researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology and TNO at Holst Centre have now managed to make photodiodes - based on a similar technology - with a photoelectron yield of more than 200 percent.

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A research team supported by the Q-NEXT quantum research center demonstrates a new way to use quantum sensors to tease out relationships between microscopic magnetic fields.

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Long before Dr. Jukka Vayrynen was an assistant professor at the Purdue Department of Physics and Astronomy, he was a post-doc investigating a theoretical model with emergent particles in a condensed matter setting.

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Researchers have produced new evidence of how graphene, when twisted to a precise angle, can become a superconductor, moving electricity with no loss of energy. In a study published today (Feb. 15, 2023) in the journal Nature, the team led by physicists at The Ohio State University reported on the key role that quantum geometry plays in allowing this twisted graphene to become a superconductor.

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Story tips: Neutrons uncover hydrogen’s hidden role in twisting iron; Entangled quantum particles are viable in space; Reused car batteries rev up electric grid; Pulling the shades for energy savings

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New research in quantum computing at Sandia National Laboratories is moving science closer to being able to overcome supply-chain challenges and restore global security during future periods of unrest.

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Whether the light in our living spaces is on or off can be regulated in everyday life simply by reaching for the light switch. However, when the space for the light is shrunk to a few nanometers, quantum mechanical effects dominate, and it is unclear whether there is light in it or not.

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Weinberg Fellow Addis Fuhr uses quantum chemistry and machine learning methods to advance new materials.

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Excitons are drawing attention as possible quantum bits (qubits) in tomorrow’s quantum computers and are central to optoelectronics and energy-harvesting processes. However, these charge-neutral quasiparticles, which exist in semiconductors and other materials, are notoriously difficult to confine and manipulate. Now, for the first time, Berkeley Lab researchers have created and directly observed highly localized excitons confined in simple stacks of atomically thin materials. The work confirms theoretical predictions and opens new avenues for controlling excitons with custom-built materials.

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In the world around us processes appear to follow a certain time-direction: dandelions eventually turn into blowballs. However, the quantum realm does not play by the same rules. Physicists from the University of Vienna and IQOQI Vienna have now shown that for certain quantum systems the time-direction of processes can be reversed. This demonstration of a so-called rewinding protocol has been published in the Journal "Optica".

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Physicists are increasingly using ultracold molecules to study quantum states of matter.