New single-photon detector targets high-speed quantum communications

22 Feb 2023

Quantum fan: the new single-photon detector comprises 32 superconducting nanowires. (Courtesy: Ryan Lannom, JPL-Caltech/NASA)

A new photon detector called PEACOQ can register the arrival times of individual photons with the best timing resolution to date. Developed by Matthew Shaw and colleagues at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the detector achieved a maximum count rate of some 1.5 billion photons per second, while maintaining high efficiency and low noise.

 

Short electrical pulses switch superconductivity on and off in magic-angle graphene

22 Feb 2023 Isabelle Dumé

Superconductivity switch: This figure shows a device with two graphene layers (dark grey and inset) sandwiched between boron nitride layers (blue and purple). The angle and alignment of each layer enables the researchers to turn superconductivity on and off with a short electric pulse. (Courtesy: Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Dahlia Klein, Li-Qiao Xia, David MacNeill et. al)

 

Compact mass spectrometer could search for life on distant moons

15 Feb 2023

Made for space: an Orbitrap cell. (Courtesy: Ricardo Arevalo)

A compact prototype instrument that could one day search for signs of life in the solar system has been unveiled by a team of researchers in the US, France, and Germany. Led by Ricardo Arevalo at the University of Maryland, the team’s Orbitrap LDMS instrument can non-invasively identify complex molecules, despite taking up just a fraction of the size and weight of commercially available counterparts.

 

Doomed to explode in a kilonova, rare star system is discovered by astronomers

20 Feb 2023

Waiting to explode Artist’s impression of the kilonova progenitor showing the Be star (left) and its companion neutron star right. (Courtesy: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J da Silva/Spaceengine/M Zamani)

The first observation of a stellar system that is destined to explode as a kilonova has been made by astronomers in the US and New Zealand. The evolution of the rare binary star is described as a “one in 10 billion” event and could help astronomers develop a better understanding of how heavy elements are created in the universe.

 

Quantum processors still struggle to simulate complex molecules

10 Feb 2023 Ieva Čepaitė

Possible spin liquid: Lattice structure of ⍺-ruthenium trichloride (top) and encodings of its spin-model topology into qubits (bottom). (Courtesy: Garnet Chan)

The quantum nature of complex molecules and materials makes them very challenging to simulate. To learn about their properties, a classical computer must store and process huge amounts of data. Quantum computers bypass this by manipulating quantum systems directly, which in theory gives them an advantage over their classical counterparts. In practice, however, today’s quantum devices are sensitive to noise due to interactions with their environment, greatly diminishing their potential advantages.

 

Europe is at the forefront of quantum-based technologies, says report

11 Feb 2023

Sound return: The European Commission’s €1bn Quantum Technologies Flagship has already led to the creation of 25 spin-offs firms (courtesy: iStock/Quardia)

Europe is leading the race to implement quantum-based technologies, according to a new report from the European Commission. The report examines the state of the 10-year €1bn Quantum Technologies Flagship programme, which began in 2018. It aims to boost quantum research in Europe as well foster the implementation of quantum technologies such as quantum sensing, communication and computation.

 

Dark spins could boost the performance of diamond-based quantum devices

04 Feb 2023

New spin on noise: a better understanding of the interactions between NV centres and surface spins could be used to build better quantum devices. (Courtesy: Shutterstock/Inna Bigun/vector)

The performance of some quantum technologies could be boosted by exploiting interactions between nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centres and defects on the surface of diamond – according to research done by two independent teams of scientists in the US.

 

Quantum entanglement maps gluons inside nuclei

06 Feb 2023

Starring roles: members of the STAR collaboration Daniel Brandenburg and Zhangbu Xu photographed at the detector on the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. (Courtesy: Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Using quantum entanglement, physicists in the US have mapped out distributions of gluons within atomic nuclei at higher precision than previously possible. Physicists working on the STAR experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) made their measurements by using an interference effect related to the quantum entanglement of the oppositely charged pions created when high-energy gold nuclei pass very close to each other.

 

Quantum error correction could help astronomers image stars

10 Jan 2023 Maria Violaris

Quantum error correction can protect fragile captured starlight from being degraded by unwanted interactions with its environment. (Courtesy: iStock/angelinast)

Space is not a studio: when studying stars, astronomers have no control over the objects they are trying to image. Instead, they rely on improvements to telescopes and analysis techniques to create higher-resolution images from whatever light they receive, however faint or noisy it may be. Now, a team of scientists has proposed a way of using quantum error correction to combat noise in the starlight captured by telescopes. According to the team, even the simplest error-correction protocols run on near-term quantum devices could offer a significant advantage for astronomical imaging.

 

Surprising heat transfer behaviour seen in new semiconductor under pressure

27 Jan 2023 Isabelle Dumé

Heat transfer under pressure: A boron arsenide crystal placed between two diamonds in a controlled chamber with thermal energy transported under extreme pressure. (Courtesy: Y Hu)

The thermal conductivity of materials usually increases when they are subject to very high pressures. But researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have found that the opposite is true for boron arsenide – a newly discovered semiconductor that shows much promise for heat management applications and advanced electronics devices. The finding could change the way we think about heat transport under extreme conditions, such as those found in the Earth’s interior, where direct measurements are impossible.