In a recent breakthrough, scientists from Okayama University in Japan developed nanodiamond sensors bright enough for bioimaging, with spin properties comparable to those of bulk diamonds. The study, published in ACS Nano, on 16 December 2024, was led by Research Professor Masazumi Fujiwara from Okayama University, in collaboration with Sumitomo Electric Company and the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology.

Researchers Deepak Singh and Carsten Ullrich from the University of Missouri’s College of Arts and Science, along with their teams of students and postdoctoral fellows, recently made a groundbreaking discovery on the nanoscale: a new type of quasiparticle found in all magnetic materials, no matter their strength or temperature.

The quantum Hall effect, a fundamental effect in quantum mechanics, not only generates an electric but also a magnetic current. It arises from the motion of electrons on an orbit around the nuclei of atoms. This has been demonstrated by the calculations of a team from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) which were published in the journal "Physical Review Letters". These results can potentially be used to develop new types of inexpensive and energy-efficient devices. Electricity flows through all types of electronic devices, be it mobile phones or computers. However, this generates heat, which means that energy is lost. It also means that conventional computer chips cannot be infinitely scaled down. In the field of spin-orbitronics, researchers are looking for alternatives for storing and processing information without the loss of energy. The basic idea is to utilise not only an electron’s charge, but also its spin and orbital moment when processing information. Spin is the intrinsic angular momentum of an electron, and the orbital moment arises from the motion of the electrons around atomic nuclei. "Combining both effects would allow us to design new devices that are more powerful and efficient," says physicist Professor Ingrid Mertig at MLU.

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.

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.

From smart textiles to self-driving cars: Empa researchers are developing new types of detectors for infrared radiation that are more sustainable, flexible and cost-effective than conventional technologies. The key to success is not (only) the composition of the material, but also its size.

A new paper titled “Layered hybrid superlattices as designable quantum solids” by Professor Xiangfeng Duan, postdoctoral researcher Dr. Zhong Wan and co-authors, recently published in Nature, introduces an exciting advancement in the development of customizable materials for quantum technologies.

A team led by Prof. LU Zhengtian and Researcher XIA Tian from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) realized Schrödinger-cat state with minute-scale lifetime using optically trapped cold atoms, significantly enhancing the sensitivity of quantum metrology measurement. The study was published in Nature Photonics.

The material, based on a framework of ruthenium, fulfils the requirements of the ‘Kitaev quantum spin liquid state’ - an elusive phenomenon that scientists have been trying to understand for decades. Published in Nature Communications the study, by scientists at the University of Birmingham, offers an important step towards achieving and controlling quantum materials with sought-after new properties that do not follow classical laws of physics.

In organic molecules an exciton is a particle bound pair of an electron (negative charge) and its hole (positive charge). They are held together by Coulombic attraction and can move within molecular assemblies. Singlet fission (SF) is a process where an exciton is amplified, and two triplet excitons are generated from a singlet exciton. This is caused by the absorption of a single particle of light, or photon, in molecules called chromophores (molecules that absorb specific wavelengths of light). Controlling the molecular orientation and arrangement of chromophores is crucial for achieving high SF efficiency in materials with strong potential for optical device applications.