An international research team led by QuTech has demonstrated a network connection between quantum processors over metropolitan distances. Their result marks a key advance from early research networks in the lab towards a future quantum internet. The team developed fully independently operating nodes and integrated these with deployed optical internet fibre, enabling a 25 km quantum link. The researchers published their findings in Science Advances.

As AI's energy demands grow due to massive datasets, quantum memory offers a promising solution by processing and storing data more efficiently. Recent research shows that quantum memory can reduce the computational steps needed, cutting both time and energy use. This could make AI more sustainable, as less data would be required to achieve the same results, significantly lowering its energy footprint. While still developing, quantum memory has the potential to reshape data processing and storage across industries.

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.

In a recent breakthrough, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and Northern Illinois University discovered that they could use light to detect the spin state in a class of materials called perovskites (specifically in this research methylammonium lead iodide, or MAPbI3). Perovskites have many potential uses, from solar panels to quantum technology.

Physicists from the University of Basel have succeeded in coupling two Andreev qubits coherently over a macroscopic distance for the first time. They achieved this with the help of microwave photons generated in a narrow superconducting resonator. The results of the experiments and accompanying calculations were recently published in Nature Physics, laying the foundation for the use of coupled Andreev qubits in quantum communication and quantum computing.

Scientists at Princeton University, led by Bangladeshi researcher M. Zahid Hasan, have marked a significant milestone in quantum physics. This achievement, documented in the Nature Physics journal on 20 February, showcases the observation of long-range quantum coherence at relatively high temperatures. This advancement is crucial for the development of next-generation technologies, including super-fast computers and ultra-secure communication networks, which until now have been hindered by the need for extremely low temperatures to achieve this state.

Quantum effects do not seem to extend to very large objects–like cats, people or houses–and physicists do not agree on exactly why not. Now, an international team of scientists has proposed a new and refined way to test the validity of some proposed alternative models to standard quantum theory, which offer a possible explanation. Their work was published in the journal Physical Review Letters in June 2024.

A groundbreaking algorithm developed by Prakash Vedula, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Oklahoma School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and Alok Shukla, Ph.D., a professor in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences division at Ahmedabad University, has been incorporated into advanced computing software developed by Google and IBM. The algorithm is remarkable for its exponential improvement over previous methods.

In recent theoretical research, Ge and collaborators Jiru Liu and M. Suhail Zubairy, members of the Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, explored the relationship between the two fundamental resources to quantum physics. They established a single way to quantify the two properties, defining a mathematical description of each. Their paper, “Classical-Nonclassical Polarity of Gaussian States,” was published in the prestigious Physical Review Letters.