Phys.org Physics

• Quantum ground states: Scalable counterdiabatic driving technique enables reliable and rapid preparation

  Quantum ground states are the states at which quantum systems have the minimum possible energy. Quantum computers are increasingly being used to analyze the ground states of interesting systems, which could in turn inform the design of new materials, chemical compounds, pharmaceutical drugs and other valuable goods.

• Metasurfaces etched into 2D crystals boost nonlinear optical effects at nanoscale

  In January, a team led by Jim Schuck, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia Engineering, developed a method for creating entangled photon pairs, a critical component of emerging quantum technologies, using a crystalline device just 3.4 micrometers thick.

• Laser-induced break-up of C₆₀ fullerenes caught in real-time on X-ray camera

  The understanding of complex many-body dynamics in laser-driven polyatomic molecules is crucial for any attempt to steer chemical reactions by means of intense light fields. Ultrashort and intense X-ray pulses from accelerator-based free electron lasers (FELs) now open the door to directly watch the strong reshaping of molecules by laser fields.

• Atoms passing through walls: Quantum tunneling of hydrogen within palladium crystal

  At low temperatures, hydrogen atoms move less like particles and more like waves. This characteristic enables quantum tunneling, the passage of an atom through a barrier with a higher potential energy than the energy of the atom. Understanding how hydrogen atoms move through potential barriers has important industrial applications. However, the small size of hydrogen atoms makes direct observation of their motion extremely challenging.

• Symmetry simplifies quantum noise analysis, paving way for better error correction

  Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have achieved a breakthrough in quantum noise characterization in quantum systems—a key step toward reliably managing errors in quantum computing.

• Physicists explore optical launch of hypersound pulses in halide perovskites

  A German-French team of physicists from TU Dortmund University, University of Würzburg, and Le Mans Université has succeeded in launching shear hypersound pulses with exceptionally large amplitudes in metal halide perovskites using pulsed optical excitation.

• What would a small black hole do to the human body? Scientist aims to answer that

  Some people may worry about being bitten by a snake or spider, but have you ever considered what would happen if a small black hole tried to pass through your body?

• Single-photon switch could enable photonic computing

  There are few technologies more fundamental to modern life than the ability to control light with precision. From fiber-optic communications to quantum sensors, the manipulation of photons underpins much of our digital infrastructure. Yet one capability has remained frustratingly out of reach: controlling light with light itself at the most fundamental level using single photons to switch or modulate powerful optical beams.

• Final experimental result for the muon still challenges theorists

  For experimental physicists, the latest measurement of the muon is the best of times. For theorists there's still work to do.

• Mirror symmetry prompts ultralow magnetic damping in 2D van der Waals ferromagnets

  Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) ferromagnets are thin and magnetic materials in which molecules or layers are held together by weak attractive forces known as vdW forces. These materials have proved to be promising for the development of spintronic devices, systems that operate leveraging the spin (i.e., intrinsic angular momentum) of electrons, as opposed to electric charge.

• Quantum calculations expose hidden chemistry of ice

  When ultraviolet light hits ice—whether in Earth's polar regions or on distant planets—it triggers a cascade of chemical reactions that have puzzled scientists for decades.

• Watching gold's atomic structure change at 10 million times Earth's atmospheric pressure

  The inside of giant planets can reach pressures more than one million times the Earth's atmosphere. As a result of that intense pressure, materials can adopt unexpected structures and properties. Understanding matter in this regime requires experiments that push the limits of physics in the laboratory.

• From light to logic: First complete logic gate achieved in soft material using light alone

  Researchers from McMaster University and the University of Pittsburgh have created the first functionally complete logic gate—a NAND gate (short for "NOT AND")—in a soft material using only beams of visible light. The discovery, published in Nature Communications, marks a significant advance in the field of materials that compute, in which materials themselves process information without traditional electronic circuitry.

• Bright squeezed vacuum reveals hidden quantum effects in strong-field physics

  In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers have demonstrated that quantum light, particularly bright squeezed vacuum (BSV), can drive strong-field photoemission at metal needle tips.

• Study sheds new light on reaction dynamics of weakly bound nuclei

  Researchers from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have reported new experimental results that advance our understanding of reaction dynamics and exotic nuclear structures of weakly bound nuclei.

• Explainable AI and turbulence: A fresh look at an unsolved physics problem

  While atmospheric turbulence is a familiar culprit of rough flights, the chaotic movement of turbulent flows remains an unsolved problem in physics. To gain insight into the system, a team of researchers used explainable AI to pinpoint the most important regions in a turbulent flow, according to a Nature Communications study led by the University of Michigan and the Universitat Politècnica de València.

• Cuisines can be broken down into simple 'culinary fingerprints,' research finds

  It is a simple equation, especially for a mathematician. Loved ones, plus food, equals good times.

• New scalable single-spin qubits could simplify future processors

  Quantum computers, which operate leveraging effects rooted in quantum mechanics, have the potential of tackling some computational and optimization tasks that cannot be solved by classical computers. Instead of bits (i.e., binary digits), which are the basic units of information in classical computers, quantum computers rely on so-called qubits.

• Could a kid have painted that? Jackson Pollock's famous pour-painting has child-like characteristics, study shows

  What makes art art? Is it the method or the creator? Does it need a color palette and oil paints, or a canvas laid flat on the floor and paint splattered across it? Does it require a critically acclaimed painter, or a toddler with crayons? And when it comes to the artist, can we even reliably tell if an artwork has been created by children or adults?

• Scientist captures tiny particles for clues on what sparks lightning

  Using lasers as tweezers to understand cloud electrification might sound like science fiction, but at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) it is a reality. By trapping and charging micron-sized particles with lasers, researchers can now observe their charging and discharging dynamics over time.

• Physicists demonstrate the constancy of the speed of light with unprecedented accuracy

  In 1887, one of the most important experiments in the history of physics took place. American scientists Michelson and Morley failed to measure the speed of Earth by comparing the speed of light in the direction of Earth's motion with that perpendicular to it. That arguably most important zero measurement in the history of science led Einstein to postulate that the speed of light is constant and consequently to formulate his theory of special relativity.

• When superfluids collide, physicists find a mix of old and new behavior

  Physics is often about recognizing patterns, sometimes repeated across vastly different scales. For instance, moons orbit planets in the same way planets orbit stars, which in turn orbit the center of a galaxy.

• Surface-only superconductor is the strangest of its kind

  Something strange goes on inside the material platinum-bismuth-two (PtBi₂). A new study by researchers at IFW Dresden and the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat demonstrates that while PtBi₂ may look like a typical shiny gray crystal, electrons moving through it do some things never seen before.

• Acoustic waves could be the key to orbitronic devices

  Electronics traditionally rely on harnessing the electron's charge, but researchers are now exploring the possibility of harnessing its other intrinsic properties. In a Nature Communications study, scientists from Japan demonstrated that sound waves in certain solids can generate orbital currents—flow of electron orbital angular momentum.

• JUNO experiment delivers first physics results two months after completion

  The Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has successfully completed the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) and released its first physics results.