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.

Whether beer, coffee beans, yogurt or lubricating oil: A device small enough to fit into one hand can measure the shelf life of substances. The idea: To bring this technology to the food industry. As a start-up, this spin-off from the University of Stuttgart will receive funding from the EXIST research transfer program of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK).

What’s the best way to precisely manipulate a material’s properties to the desired state? It may be straining the material’s atomic arrangement, according to a team led by researchers at Penn State. The team discovered that “atomic spray painting” of potassium niobate, a material used in advanced electronics, could tune the resulting thin films with exquisite control. The finding, published in Advanced Materials, could drive environmentally friendly advancements in consumer electronics, medical devices and quantum computing, the researchers said.

Scientists at the University of Würzburg and the German national metrology institute (PTB) have carried out an experiment that realizes a new kind of quantum standard of resistance. It’s based on the Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect.

For controlling prosthetics, the body’s signals must be detected to move the artificial limb. At the moment, implanting electrodes is the most common technique but this is invasive and electrodes can deteriorate or move position. A completely different approach is now developed by the multidisciplinary consortium QHMI in Stuttgart, Germany, using quantum sensors to detect the incredibly small and fast nerve signals. The ultrasensitive quantum magnetometers will be carried outside the body measuring the neural signals through the skin. At this stage, the scientists are using Spectrum Instrumentation’s ultrafast digitizers (M5i.3357) and Arbitrary Waveform Generators (M4x.6631) to characterize the signals and to finally design the required Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs).

Physicists at Loughborough University have made an exciting breakthrough in understanding how to fine-tune the behaviour of electrons in quantum materials poised to drive the next generation of advanced technologies.

In the effort to develop new quantum technologies of the future, scientists are pursuing several different approaches. One avenue seeks to use molecules as the fundamental building blocks of quantum technologies. Now scientists at Caltech have figured out a new way to use ultrafast laser pulses to realize an important quantum mechanical property known as superposition, turning a relatively simple molecule into a quantum sensor—a tool that can measure chemical phenomena in its surroundings through inherently quantum means.

Physics Professor Wolfgang Losert, Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics Professor Kan Cao, Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor John Fourkas, and Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Cheng Gong were awarded $2 million by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research to build a test bed to study how neural networks process information and develop new approaches to quantum computing and sensing inspired by the living brain. As principal investigator of this multidisciplinary and cross-institutional project, Losert will collaborate with both UMD faculty members as well as other academic and industry partners to better understand and recreate the brain’s unique capacity for learning and adapting quickly—abilities that far surpass traditional computer systems.

Theoretical physicists have established a close connection between the two rapidly developing fields in theoretical physics, quantum information theory and non-invertible symmetries in particle and condensed matter theories, after proving that any non-invertible symmetry operation in theoretical physics is a quantum operation, reports a recent study published in Physical Review Letters as an Editors’ Suggestion on November 6.