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Category: quantum physics

XXP instrument back online, marking a key milestone in high-energy upgrade to SLAC’s X-ray laser

XPP, the X-ray Pump Probe instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), is back online and welcoming researchers after a complete rebuild. The overhaul has readied XPP for the significant increase in X-ray output expected from the ongoing high-energy upgrade to LCLS at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. LCLS is a pioneering X-ray free-electron laser facility used by scientists around the world to capture ultrafast snapshots of natural processes.

“Completing the XPP rebuild on-time and on-budget is a key milestone for the high-energy upgrade effort, and we’re thrilled that the instrument is back to supporting researchers from around the world,” said John Hogan, project director for the LCLS high-energy upgrade. “This was a huge team effort, involving partners across SLAC’s engineering, science and project teams.”

Since its 2010 debut, XPP has enabled groundbreaking research across materials science—from quantum information storage to material dynamics across timescales—as well as studies in chemistry, physics and bioscience. Researchers have leveraged XPP to pioneer X-ray optics technologies, including cavity-based X-ray oscillators that are shaping future X-ray free-electron laser facilities.

Sudden quantum jolts may not break adiabatic behavior after all

In thermodynamics, an “adiabatic process” is a system change that transfers no heat in or out of the system. Any and all energy change in that system are therefore accomplished by doing work on the system, work being action that moves matter over a distance. (An example is a bicycle tire pump or lifting a box from the floor.)

The “adiabatic theorem” says that if you change a system slowly enough, it will remain in the same energy state. For example, if you walk slowly enough holding a full cup of coffee, the coffee will not spill—the coffee system has time to relax back to its steady state—but if you make a quick and sudden change while holding the coffee cup, some coffee will spill over the cup’s edge.

There is a similar theorem in quantum mechanics—a quantum system that is changed (perturbed) slowly enough will remain in its existing quantum state (often its ground state), while a sudden change, such as a photon impinging upon an atom, changes its energy state.

Light unlocks full polarization control at ultrafast speeds, reshaping photonics

Scientists at Heriot‑Watt University have demonstrated in a world-first, that light can be used to control every aspect of how electromagnetic waves oscillate, opening new technological frontiers. Researchers working in photonics, the science of light, have discovered a new way to control “polarization,” a key property of light that plays a crucial role in the performance of technologies such as drug development and quantum computers.

The breakthrough resolves a long-standing challenge in photonics: achieving control of light that is both fast and strong enough to be useful in real systems. The research, titled All-optical polarization control in time-varying low index films via plasma symmetry breaking, has been published in the journal Nature Photonics.

Dr. Marcello Ferrera, Professor at Heriot-Watt University’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, said, How light oscillates has a huge impact on how it interacts with the physical world around us. For the first time, we now have full control over this property of light, for any polarization state, and at ultra‑fast speeds.

Superconducting quantum circuit simulates proton tunneling phenomenon in chemical systems

Researchers at Yale, Google, and the University of California-Santa Barbara have created a device that simulates the quantum “tunneling” behavior of protons that occurs in chemistry, a process so common it occurs in everything from photosynthesis to the formation of human DNA.

The advance has the potential to aid researchers across a variety of disciplines, including the development of new solar fuels, pharmaceuticals, and materials. It is described in a new study in the journal PRX Quantum.

Quantum tunneling is a mechanism by which particles, such as electrons or protons, pass through an energy barrier they should not have sufficient energy to cross.

Quantum computing’s next dark horse emerges from a frozen surface, where almost nothing behaves as expected

Quantum bits (qubits) are the fundamental building blocks of quantum information processing. A novel qubit platform invented at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory exhibits noise levels thousands of times lower than those of most traditional qubits. “Noise” refers to disturbances in the environment that diminish a qubit’s performance. The platform was built by trapping single electrons on the surface of frozen neon gas. The recent finding positions Argonne’s platform as a strong contender in the field of high-performance quantum technologies.

The new study, jointly led by Argonne and the University of Notre Dame, was published in Nature Electronics. Collaborating institutions included the University of Chicago, Harvard University, Northeastern University and Florida State University (FSU).

“In previous work, we demonstrated the outstanding performance of our electron-on-neon qubit,” said Xu Han, an Argonne scientist and co-corresponding author. “By thoroughly characterizing the qubit’s noise properties, this latest study shows why its performance is so good. Our results prove that our technology is promising for quantum information processing at larger scales.”

A longstanding quantum roadblock just fell, opening existing fiber networks to ultra-secure light signals

Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have broken a longstanding barrier by managing to send single photons—that can’t be copied or split and thus are secure—in the network of optical fibers we already have. This opens up a broad range of applications relying on secure quantum information. The research is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Quantum dots are unsurpassed in their ability to generate coherent single photons—single particles of light which cannot be split or copied and therefore are secure for quantum communication. So far, the problem was that the best quantum dots only worked around 930 nm wavelengths, which is far short of the telecommunication-compatible wavelengths starting at 1,260 nm. Only these longer wavelengths can be used to distribute the information-carrying photons and it has so far been restricted to sub-optimal platforms.

Now, scientists have managed to create a new type of quantum dot, which exploits the best of both worlds.

The MIT-IBM Computing Research Lab Launches to Shape the Future of AI and Quantum Computing

The new lab expands its scope to include quantum computing, alongside foundational artificial intelligence research, with the goal of unlocking new computational approaches that go beyond the limits of today’s classical systems.

Groove Quantum Demonstrates 18-Qubit Spin Processor and Secures Funding

PRESS RELEASE — Groove Quantum today announced it has raised €16 million in combined funding and demonstrated an 18-qubit semiconductor spin-qubit processor, the largest of its kind ever built. The result marks a step beyond small-scale laboratory prototypes toward a quantum processor architecture designed for large-scale integration. The combined funding consists of €10 million in equity and €6 million in grants. The equity seed round is co-led by Innovation Industries, a leading European deep tech fund, and 55 North, the world’s largest pure-play quantum fund, with participation from Verve Ventures and the European Innovation Council Fund. Additional funding is provided by grants from the EIC Accelerator programme and JU Chips Act funding programme further underscores institutional confidence in Groove’s approach.

Groove will use the capital to scale qubit count exponentially and to begin manufacturing its processors at established semiconductor foundries.

Quantum computers create a fundamentally new way of computing. This opens the door to solving complex challenges that would take today’s most powerful supercomputers impractically long to address, like the discovery of new medicines, and the design of advanced materials for renewable energy – challenges that are highly important and have a profoundly positive impact on humanity.

Are Cosmic Strings Cracks in the Universe?

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Reality has cracks in it. Universe-spanning filaments of ancient Big Bang energy, formed from topological defects in the quantum fields, aka cosmic strings. They have subatomic thickness but prodigious mass and they lash through space at a close to the speed of light. They could be the most bizarre undiscovered entities that actually exist.

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