Quantum physics in proteins - AI affords unprecedented insights into how biomolecules work
Nov 2021, phys.org
I hear the quantum biology headlines humming.
via Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron: Abbas Ourmazd, Few-fs resolution of a photoactive protein traversing a conical intersection, Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04050-9
Physicists create compressible optical quantum gas
Mar 2022, phys.org
Calling BECs (Bose-Einstein Condensate) a "super photon" by the way.
via University of Bonn: Erik Busley et al, Compressibility and the equation of state of an optical quantum gas in a box, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abm2543.
Physicists report on first programmable quantum sensor
Mar 2022, phys.org
"In the development of quantum computers, we have learned to create tailored entangled states."
("Custom Quantum", am I right?)
via University of Innsbruck: Christian Marciniak, Optimal metrology with programmable quantum sensors, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04435-4.
Also: Quantum Variational Optimization of Ramsey Interferometry and Atomic Clocks, Physical Review X (2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.11.041045.
Chinese team breaks distance record for quantum secure direct communication
Apr 2022, phys.org
Distance of 102.2 km.
Prior to this new effort, the record was just 18 km.
via Tsinghua University in China: Haoran Zhang et al, Realization of quantum secure direct communication over 100 km fiber with time-bin and phase quantum states, Light: Science & Applications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41377-022-00769-w
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Tying Quantum Knots - TU Delft - 2022 |
It takes three to tangle: Long-range quantum entanglement needs three-way interaction
May 2022, phys.org
The researchers' findings are consistent with previous observations that long-range entanglement survives at a non-zero temperature only when more than three subsystems are involved.
via RIKEN: Tomotaka Kuwahara et al, Exponential Clustering of Bipartite Quantum Entanglement at Arbitrary Temperatures, Physical Review X (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.12.021022
Tunable quantum traps for excitons
May 2022, phys.org
Physicists can now string together many such trapped excitons and adjust them in such a way that they emit photons having exactly the same properties. "That would allow one to create identical single photon sources for quantum information processing,"
via ETH Zurich: Deepankur Thureja et al, Electrically tunable quantum confinement of neutral excitons, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04634-z
Scientists use quantum computers to simulate quantum materials
May 2022, phys.org
"Computational Materials" sounds like another way of saying "active matter"?
Also "Hardware Noise":
Performing calculations of the properties of materials and molecules on quantum computers faces a problem that one does not experience with a classical computer, a phenomenon known as hardware noise. Noisy calculations return slightly different answers each time a calculation is performed; a noisy addition operation might return values slightly different from 4 each time for the question, "What is 2 plus 2?"
via Argonne National Laboratory's Midwest Integrated Center for Computational Materials and University of Chicago: Benchen Huang et al, Simulating the Electronic Structure of Spin Defects on Quantum Computers, PRX Quantum (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PRXQuantum.3.010339
Researchers achieve record entanglement of quantum memories
Jul 2022, phys.org
Again with the "quantum memories" term:
Researchers coupled two atomic quantum memories using two optically trapped rubidium atoms in two laboratories on the LMU campus connected via a 700-meter-long fiber optic cable.
via Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich: Tim van Leent et al, Entangling single atoms over 33 km telecom fibre, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04764-4
Scientists invent 'quantum flute' that can make particles of light move together
Jul 2022, phys.org
Ah yes, the quantum flute, we've been waiting for that one.
via University of Chicago: Srivatsan Chakram et al, Seamless High- Q Microwave Cavities for Multimode Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics, Physical Review Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.107701
Strange new phase of matter created in quantum computer acts like it has two time dimensions
Jul 2022, phys.org
First, the time thing:
By shining a laser pulse sequence inspired by the Fibonacci numbers at atoms inside a quantum computer, physicists have created a remarkable, never-before-seen phase of matter. The phase has the benefits of two time dimensions despite there still being only one singular flow of time, the physicists report July 20 in Nature.
Information stored in the phase is far more protected against errors than with alternative setups currently used in quantum computers. As a result, the information can exist without getting garbled for much longer, an important milestone for making quantum computing viable, says study lead author Philipp Dumitrescu.
The approach's use of an "extra" time dimension "is a completely different way of thinking about phases of matter."
Next, never seen this phrasing til now:
"stayed quantum"
via Simons Foundation: Philipp Dumitrescu, Dynamical topological phase realized in a trapped-ion quantum simulator, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04853-4
Researchers explore a new connection between topology and quantum entanglement
Aug 2022, phys.org
"Our work ties two big ideas together," says Charles Kane, the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Physics in Penn's School of Arts & Sciences. "It's a conceptual link between topology, which is a way of characterizing the universal features that quantum states have, and entanglement, which is a way in which quantum states can exhibit non-local correlations, where something that happens in one point in space is correlated with something that happens in another part in space. What we've found is a situation where those concepts are tightly intertwined."
The eureka, and one of the pandemic sort:
The seed for exploring this connection came during the long hours Kane spent in his home office during the pandemic, pondering new ideas. One train of thought had him envisioning the classic textbook image of the Fermi surface of copper, which represents the metal's potential electron energies. It's a picture every physics student sees, and one with which Kane was highly familiar.
"Of course, I learned about that picture back in the 1980s but had never thought about it as describing a topological surface," Kane says. ...
via University of Pennsylvania: Pok Man Tam et al, Topological Multipartite Entanglement in a Fermi Liquid, Physical Review X (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.12.031022
Unexpected quantum effects in natural double-layer graphene
Aug 2022, phys.org
Again with the unexpected:
At temperatures just above absolute zero of minus 273.15 degrees Celsius, the electrons in the graphene can interact with each other—and a variety of complex quantum phases emerge completely unexpectedly.
via University of Göttingen and University of Texas at Dallas: Anna M. Seiler et al, Quantum cascade of correlated phases in trigonally warped bilayer graphene, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04937-1
Post Script on the Sub- and Super-Luminal:
Listen to this guy Andrzej Dragan talk about the "Quantum principle of relativity" at the Centrum Fizyki Teoretycznej, 2020-05-20
(the visuals come in at 19:40)
