The search for materials that can power future quantum technologies is accelerating, but identifying the most promising candidates remains painfully slow. Evaluating whether a material can efficiently emit quantum light requires computationally intensive simulations, making it difficult to screen the vast number of available materials.

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have found that implosions designed for inertial fusion energy (IFE) can tolerate significant imperfections before performance abruptly declines, a finding that could inform the design of fuel targets for future fusion power plants.

A research team from Singapore, led by Associate Professor Dawn Tan of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Dr. Luo Xianshu, head of the Silicon Photonics Department at the A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics (A*STAR IME), has developed a low-loss silicon nitride waveguide that generates broadband light on a chip. By replacing hydrogen with its heavier isotope, deuterium, the team fabricated the low-loss SiN waveguide on an 8-inch wafer using a low-temperature process, demonstrating its potential for large-scale manufacturing and integration with CMOS-compatible semiconductor processes.

In a study published in Nature on Aug. 19, a research team has enhanced superconductivity through vacuum fluctuations for the first time. The achievement marks a significant advance in controlling quantum states of matter.

In the physical sense, glass is not limited to familiar window glass; it forms whenever a liquid is cooled so quickly that it cannot crystallize. As a result, glass has an amorphous structure—that is, its “building blocks” are not arranged regularly as in crystals. At the same time, however, glass is as resistant to deformation as a crystalline solid.