MIT physicists have created a new and long-lasting magnetic state in a material, using only light. In a study appearing today in Nature, the researchers report using a terahertz laser — a light source that oscillates more than a trillion times per second — to directly stimulate atoms in an antiferromagnetic material. The laser’s oscillations are tuned to the natural vibrations among the material’s atoms, in a way that shifts the balance of atomic spins toward a new magnetic state.

The magnetic moment of the muon is an important precision parameter for putting the Standard Model of particle physics to the test. After years of work, the research group led by Professor Hartmut Wittig of the PRISMA+ Cluster of Excellence at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has calculated this quantity using the so-called lattice quantum chromodynamics method (lattice QCD method). Their result, which was recently published, agrees with the latest experimental measurements, in contrast to earlier theoretical calculations. After the experimental measurements had been pushed to ever higher precision in recent years, attention had increasingly turned to the theoretical prediction and the central question of whether it deviates significantly from the experimental results and thus provides evidence for the existence of new physics beyond the Standard Model.

Recently, researchers from at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in Heidelberg tackled a tricky piece of the QED puzzle. They focused on a phenomenon known as the electron self-energy, which occurs when an electron interacts with the quantum vacuum — the invisible sea of energy that pervades the whole universe.

Adding renewable energy and energy storage capacity brings an added layer of complexity to traditional electrical grid systems. Balancing supply and demand of energy for power systems, even under uncertain conditions, may be solved using quantum computing technology, according to Rochester Institute of Technology faculty-researcher Bing Yan.

A new report from the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), the world’s premier association of quantum technology pioneers, found that potential use cases for quantum sensors in the biomedical field are vast and may lead to more efficient and accurate medical diagnoses, less invasive techniques, and the collection of more data about patients and conditions to aid in pharmaceutical research.

In a study published today in Nature Communications, researchers from the Quantum Magnetism group in the Department of Physics have developed an innovative approach to synthesise and study rare-earth magnetic materials. This achievement marks a significant advancement in understanding quantum magnetic states, potentially bringing the field closer to realising elusive quantum spin liquids.

General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a business unit of General Dynamics, announced today that it has joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Building Block Consortium. As the first systems integrator to join this consortium, GDIT will work alongside leading industry, government and academic organizations from around the world to address the threats posed by quantum computing.

Oxford Ionics, a world leader in trapped-ion quantum computing, today announced it is working together with Quanscient, a leading provider of multiphysics simulation software, and aerospace manufacturer Airbus to develop quantum simulations for computational fluid dynamics.

The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), has unveiled a quantum-inspired framework that transforms how fluid dynamics simulations are conducted. The work was executed by the Quantum Research Center in collaboration with the Propulsion and Space Research Center, both excellence R&D centers at TII. By leveraging advanced algorithms derived from quantum mechanics principles, this innovation promises to redefine the design processes for aerospace, automotive, and energy sectors.

Quanscient, a startup based in Tampere, Finland and founded in 2021, is launching Quanscient Allsolve, a cloud-native B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) multiphysics simulation platform utilizing the cloud computing power of AWS to accelerate the speed of physics simulations by over 100x.