Quantum technologies exploit the unusual properties of the most fundamental building blocks of matter. They promise breakthroughs in communication, computing, sensors and much more. However, quantum states are fragile, and their effects are difficult to grasp, making research into real-world applications challenging. Empa researchers and their partners have now achieved a breakthrough: Using a kind of “quantum Lego”, they have been able to accurately realize a well-known theoretical quantum physics model in a synthetic material.

A new study published in Physical Review Letters on October 22 has challenged the assumptions by providing direct evidence of the breakdown of spin statistics in ion-atom charge exchange collisions. This study was led by scientists from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

An old physical phenomenon known as the Hall effect has revealed some new tricks, according to a team co-led by researchers at Penn State and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They have reported their findings, which they said have potential implications for understanding the fundamental physics of quantum materials and developing applied technologies such as quantum communication and harvesting energy via radio frequencies in Nature Materials.

Research using the ALICE experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider suggests for the first time the presence of gluonic quantum fluctuations at the subnucleon level in heavy nuclei. University of Kansas experimental nuclear physicist Daniel Tapia Takaki and his team have published findings detailing the breakthrough discovery in the Editor’s Suggestion of Physical Review Letters.

Peter Fischer, a senior researcher at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), led a project to make 3D X-ray images of skyrmions that can characterize or measure the orientations of spins inside the whole object. “Our results provide a foundation for nanoscale metrology for spintronics devices,” Fischer said. The work was recently published in Science Advances.

A research team led by Prof. LIN Hao from the High Magnetic Field Laboratory at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with multiple international research teams, has successfully achieved an atomically controlled insulator-to-metal transition in iridate/manganate heterostructures.

Quantum theory describes events that take place on extremely short time scales. In the past, such events were regarded as ‘momentary’ or ‘instantaneous’: An electron orbits the nucleus of an atom – in the next moment it is suddenly ripped out by a flash of light. Two particles collide – in the next moment they are suddenly ‘quantum entangled’.Today, however, the temporal development of such almost ‘instantaneous’ effects can be investigated. Together with research teams from China, TU Wien (Vienna) has developed computer simulations that can be used to simulate ultrafast processes. This makes it possible to find out how quantum entanglement arises on a time scale of attoseconds. The results have now been published in the journal ‘Physical Review Letters’.

In a groundbreaking study, researchers from Purdue University and the Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Munich have revealed an unexpected twist in molecular physics: they can break molecules apart using laser light, only to reform them in a new, stable state. This discovery defies conventional chemistry, where severing chemical bonds typically results in the destruction of the molecule.

A new study has uncovered the universal dynamics far from equilibrium in randomly interacting spin models, thereby complementing the well-established universality in low-energy equilibrium physics. The study, recently published in Nature Physics, was the result of a collaborative effort involving the research group led by Prof. Du Jiangfeng and Prof. Peng Xinhua at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), along with the theoretical groups of Prof. Zhai Hui from Tsinghua University and Dr. Zhang Pengfei from Fudan University.

Professor Stephen Blundell from the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford has been awarded the 2024 Institute of Physics Lawrence Bragg Medal and Prize. The IOP gold medal recognises Professor Blundell’s contributions to physics scholarship and education through the publication of widely-used and influential physics textbooks.