Infineon Technologies AG has achieved a milestone on the way to a quantum-resilient world in collaboration with the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Infineon is the first company ever to receive the Common Criteria EAL6, an industry-leading certification level, for the implementation of a post-quantum cryptography algorithm in a security controller. Such cryptography enhances security for eSIM, 5G SIM and smart card applications, including personal IDs, payment cards and eHealth cards, against threats resulting from highly capable quantum computers. The world's first certification is a milestone on the way to a quantum-safe future in our daily lives.

To promote the sustainability of electromobility and enhance resource efficiency, upcycling of lithium-ion batteries is gaining increasing importance. Efforts are focused on slowing down material cycles by repurposing used batteries from electric vehicles for new applications instead of transferring them directly to recycling processes. Despite its real significant potential to conserve resources, upcycling has yet caught on due to technical and economic challenges. However, a team of researchers has developed a practical method that combines a high-speed measurement method and artificial intelligence (AI) to overcome these barriers.

Researchers at Mainz University verified the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect, i.e., the influence of chiral molecules on spin, using spintronic analytical techniques

The Franco-German research team, including members from the University of Freiburg, shows that supramolecular chemistry enables efficient spin communication through hydrogen bonds.

PTB is one of the global leading institutions and has, up to now, developed an impressive series of different optical clocks – among which are single ion clocks and optical lattice clocks. Now, such high accuracy has also been demonstrated in a new type of clock, which has the potential to measure time and frequency 1000 times more accurately than the caesium clocks that currently realize the SI second. For this purpose, the new ion crystal clock was compared to other optical clocks and achieved a new accuracy record. The results of the measurement campaign have been published in the current issue of “Physical Review Letters”.

In the new network project “Quantenrepeater.Net (QR.N)”, physicists at the University of Stuttgart are researching, developing, and testing special repeaters for the quantum Internet. These repeaters are key to the secure IT infrastructure and communications of the future.

In a new study, researchers from the MCQST, the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and the LMU under the lead of Timon Hilker demonstrated evidence of stripe formation, i.e. extended structures in the density pattern, in a cold-atom Fermi-Hubbard system. By using a quantum gas microscope and a special mixed-dimensional geometry, they were able to observe unique higher-order correlations in spin and charge densities related to those seen in some high-temperature superconducting materials.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF is presenting a new photon source at SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco (January 28 to 30, 2025) that has been specially developed for the "Prepare-and-Measure" protocol of quantum communication. The components of the source are optimized for use in space.

The networked world is increasingly being shaken by digital sabotage, cyber attacks, malware and the like. Yet IT security is more important than ever these days. Networks based on quantum physics could significantly improve the security of relevant systems. So-called quantum repeaters form the basis for this. These devices have been the subject of intensive research for several years, but are not yet marketable. A new joint project, in which Paderborn University is involved, therefore aims to develop new concepts and demonstrate them on real test tracks outside the laboratory.

In a cold-atom Fermi Hubbard model, researchers observed extended and attractive correlations between hole dopants and indications of stripes that are associated with superconductivity, opening up novel insights into the behaviour of exotic quantum phases.