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Category: computing

Super-Earths May Have Stronger Magnetic Fields Than Earth

“A strong magnetic field is very important for life on a planet,” said Dr. Miki Nakajima.

How can magnetic fields help determine the habitability of exoplanets? This is what a recent study published in Nature Astronomy hopes to address as a team of researchers from the University of Rochester and the University of California, Los Angeles investigated the formation processes that create magnetic fields on Earth and exoplanets slightly larger than Earth called super-Earths. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand planetary formation processes and the planetary conditions to search for life as we know it.

For the study, the researchers used a combination of laboratory experiments and computer models to simulate the formation processes of exoplanets, specifically focusing on the formation of the interior magma ocean responsible for generating the planet’s magnetic field like on Earth. The goal of the study was to estimate the long-term evolution of super-Earths, which are estimated to be between 1–10 Earth masses and 2–3 Earth radii. In the end, the researchers found that super-Earths between 3–6 Earth masses can produce magnetic fields that are stronger than Earths for up to several billion years.

“A strong magnetic field is very important for life on a planet,” said Dr. Miki Nakajima, who is an associate professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Rochester and lead author of the study. “But most of the terrestrial planets in the solar system, such as Venus and Mars, do not have them because their cores don’t have the right physical conditions to generate a magnetic field. However, super-earths can produce dynamos in their core and/or magma, which can increase their planetary habitability.”

It started with a cat: How 100 years of quantum weirdness powers today’s tech

A hundred years ago, quantum mechanics was a radical theory that baffled even the brightest minds. Today, it’s the backbone of technologies that shape our lives, from lasers and microchips to quantum computers and secure communications.

In a sweeping new perspective published in Science, Dr. Marlan Scully, a university distinguished professor at Texas A&M University, traces the journey of quantum mechanics from its quirky beginnings to its role in solving some of science’s toughest challenges.

“Quantum mechanics started as a way to explain the behavior of tiny particles,” said Scully, who is also affiliated with Princeton University. “Now it’s driving innovations that were unimaginable just a generation ago.”

An electrically powered source of entangled light on a chip

Quantum technologies are cutting-edge systems that can process, transfer, or store information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, particularly a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. Entanglement entails a correlation between two or more distant particles, whereby measuring the state of one also defines the state of the others.

In recent years, quantum physicists and engineers have been trying to realize devices that operate leveraging the entanglement between individual particles of light (i.e., photons). The reliable operation of these devices relies on so-called entangled photon sources (EPSs), components that can generate entangled pairs of photons.

Researchers at University of Science and Technology of China, Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology, CAS Institute of Semiconductors and other institutes recently realized a new EPS integrated onto a single photonic chip, which can generate entangled photons via an electrically powered laser. Their study is published in Physical Review Letters.

Entangling gates on degenerate spin qubits dressed by a global field

Global control of a qubits using a single microwave field is a promising strategy for scalable quantum computing. Here the authors demonstrate individual addressability vial local electrodes and two-qubit gates in an array of Si quantum dot spin qubits dressed by a global microwave field and driven on-resonance.

Physicists uncover hidden magnetic order in the mysterious pseudogap phase

Physicists have uncovered a link between magnetism and a mysterious phase of matter called the pseudogap, which appears in certain quantum materials just above the temperature at which they become superconducting. The findings could help researchers design new materials with sought-after properties such as high-temperature superconductivity, in which electric current flows without resistance.

Using a quantum simulator chilled to just above absolute zero, the researchers discovered a universal pattern in how electrons—which can have spin up or down—influence their neighbors’ spins as the system is cooled.

The findings represent a significant step toward understanding unconventional superconductivity, and were the result of a collaboration between experimentalists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany and theoretical physicists, including Antoine Georges, director of the Center for Computational Quantum Physics (CCQ) at the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute in New York City.

An ultrathin coating for electronics looked like a miracle insulator, but a hidden leak fooled researchers

When your winter jacket slows heat escaping your body or the cardboard sleeve on your coffee keeps heat from reaching your hand, you’re seeing insulation in action. In both cases, the idea is the same: keep heat from flowing where you don’t want it. But this physics principle isn’t limited to heat.

Electronics use it too, but with electricity. An electrical insulator stops current from flowing where it shouldn’t. That’s why power cords are wrapped in plastic. The plastic keeps electricity in the wire, not in your hand.

Inside electronics, insulators do more than keep the user safe. They also help devices store charge in a controlled way. In that role, engineers often call them dielectrics. These insulating layers sit at the heart of capacitors and transistors. A capacitor is a charge-storing component—think of it as a tiny battery, albeit one that fills up and empties much faster than a battery. A transistor is a tiny electrical switch. It can turn current on or off, or control how much current flows.

The world’s first room-temperature continuous-wave UV-B laser diode on a sapphire substrate

Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) semiconductor lasers are highly sought for medical, biotechnology, and precision manufacturing applications; however, previous UV-B laser diodes were limited to pulsed operation or required cryogenic cooling, making continuous room-temperature operation unattainable.

Researchers in Japan report the world’s first continuous-wave UV-B semiconductor laser diode operating at room temperature on a low-cost sapphire substrate.

This breakthrough advances compact, energy-efficient UV light sources, potentially replacing bulky gas-based lasers in health care, industrial, and scientific research applications worldwide.

Building the world’s first open-source quantum computer

Researchers from the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Science and the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) are prioritizing collaboration over competition to advance quantum computer development and the field of quantum information. They are doing this through Open Quantum Design (OQD), a non-profit organization that boasts the world’s first open-source, full stack quantum computer.

OQD was co-founded in 2024 by faculty members in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and IQC, Drs. Crystal Senko, Rajibul Islam and Roger Melko, alongside CEO Greg Dick (BSc ‘93).

The group is helping reshape how quantum research is shared, opening doors for the next generation of quantum scientists, and even seeding new quantum startups.

Ultrafast spectroscopy reveals step-by-step energy flow in germanium semiconductors

Whether in a smartphone or laptop, semiconductors form the basis of modern electronics and accompany us constantly in everyday life. The processes taking place inside these materials are the subject of ongoing research. When the electrons in a semiconductor material are activated using light or an electrical voltage, the excited electrons also set the atomic lattice in motion. This results in collective vibrations of the atoms, known as phonons or lattice vibrations, which interact with each other and with the electrons themselves.

These tiny lattice vibrations play a vital role in how energy flows and dissipates through the material—in other words, in how efficiently the energy is redistributed and how strongly the material heats up. Different approaches can be used to control and monitor the propagation of lattice vibrations—and therefore to make the semiconductor more effective and more efficient.

Detailed knowledge of the mechanisms of energy loss and potential overheating is essential in order to design new materials and devices that heat up less, recover faster or respond to external excitation more precisely. A team led by Professor Ilaria Zardo from the University of Basel reports on the unprecedented accuracy they achieved in measurements of energy flow processes within the semiconductor germanium, which is frequently used in computer technology. Their paper is published in Advanced Science.

Stealth quantum sensors unlock possibilities anywhere GPS doesn’t work

As commercial interest in quantum technologies accelerates, entrepreneurial minds at the University of Waterloo are not waiting for opportunities—they are creating them.

Among them is Alex Maierean (MMath ‘24), CEO of Phantom Photonics and part-time Ph.D. student at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC). Her startup is developing ultra-sensitive quantum sensors that can filter out background noise and detect the faintest signals, even down to a single photon—the smallest unit of light. This offers new levels of precision and stealth for industries operating in extreme environments, from the depths of the ocean to outer space.

Launched in 2023, the Velocity startup emerged from fundamental research at an IQC lab led by Dr. Thomas Jennewein, IQC affiliate and adjunct faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Today, the startup is based at Velocity where it has established a dedicated lab space to continue to develop its quantum sensor technology and build its core team.

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