New device measures curved mirrors’ absolute shape to within 2 nanometers without touching them

Researchers at AIST have developed a device that measures the absolute surface profile of curved optical elements with high precision without touching them.

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Rotating light pattern reveals laser frequency in a single image

An international team of physicists has developed a new method for determining the precise color of laser light using an image that rotates as the laser’s frequency shifts.

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Scandium’s electrons may explain predicted room-temperature superconductivity

Scientists have confirmed the existence of a predicted room temperature superconductor, while explaining the microscopic mechanism that distinguishes it from a similar one discovered several years ago. The work, published in the journal Physical Review B, offers “a theoretical blueprint for the future design of superior superconductor hydrides” the physicists write.

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Enantioresolution turns bright but racemic gold-silver clusters into circularly polarized emitters

Chiral metal clusters that emit circularly polarized light often face a trade-off between photoluminescence efficiency and luminescence dissymmetry. A study published in the journal Advanced Optical Materials tested whether highly luminescent racemic carbon-centered gold(I)-silver(I) clusters could be converted into bright CPL emitters by enantioresolution with chiral donor ligands.

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Experimental evidence of altermagnetism in a layered material opens a promising path toward future spintronics

To build the ultrafast computers of the future, scientists are looking beyond the electrical charge of electrons to another property: their spin. While conventional hardware relies on the movement of charge to process data, tapping into this intrinsic quantum property could enable researchers to reinvent how information travels through a circuit.

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How to balance quantum batteries’ high power with stable energy delivery

Quantum batteries are an emerging area of research, with progress coming from theoretical studies and proof-of-principle experiments in small quantum systems. Unlike conventional chemical batteries used in everyday life, they use quantum systems to store and transfer energy. Researchers are exploring them as potential future energy sources for quantum processors and other quantum technologies.

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Quantum computer boldly goes where no quantum computer has gone before: Space

There’s big news from the quantum world. A quantum computer has been used in space for the first time. The device was aboard a spacecraft in low Earth orbit and demonstrated technology that could eventually help solve a problem that has been bugging satellites for years.

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New model explains why glass becomes less transparent to terahertz light

Electromagnetic waves in the gigahertz (GHz) range, such as those used in mobile communications, can readily pass through many types of glass. However, transmission decreases significantly at terahertz frequencies above a characteristic threshold.

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Laser temporarily reprograms ultrathin optical device without electrodes

A tiny device that can be reprogrammed using a laser could lead to adaptable devices for computing, imaging and telecommunications. Most devices are built to perform a particular job. If you want them to do something different, you generally need to replace a component, rewire the system or manufacture a new one. For example, every […]

DarkSide detector puts ‘nuclear’ dark matter to the test

Researchers at the DarkSide collaboration have unveiled results from a seven-year experiment that tested whether dark matter particles could exist as composites of smaller, elementary particles. While the search turned up no direct evidence of this “ultraheavy nuclear” dark matter, results from the DarkSide-50 detector could lay the groundwork for future experiments, helping physicists work […]

Magnetic order survives weak quantum fluctuations in gapless magnets

In a new study published in Physical Review Letters, researchers have shown that magnetic order can survive weak quantum fluctuations in disordered magnets that lack an energy gap. The work establishes robust ferromagnetism in the two-dimensional random-bond quantum Ising model, confirming a longstanding conjecture in quantum statistical mechanics.

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Mapping one atom’s interaction with light uncovers an unbounded network of quantum states

A new graph-theoretic framework provides a unified description of atom-light interactions across regimes ranging from weak to deep-strong coupling.

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Waves find order in the chaos of an oddly shaped cavity

When light or sound bounces around inside an oddly shaped room, its reflections can quickly become difficult to predict. But new research led by scientists at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) shows that waves can behave very differently when they travel through a special class of materials.

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Ultrathin materials could make quantum light circuits programmable

Quantum photonics could be a pivotal part of future quantum technology if the right materials can be created, a new review paper has found.

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Spin rephasing helps quantum memories store single-photon states longer for future networks

We are continuously sending information to each other, transmitting zeros and ones through a giant network of connected computers and devices. Scientists are now trying to extend this familiar concept of the internet to the quantum realm, looking for an efficient way to exchange quantum rather than classical information: qubits instead of bits. The motivation […]