Quantum Mechanics

The 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to three scientists, Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger, who all conducted some of the first experiments with entangled photons, enabling a future for commercial quantum computers.

Physicists at the Max Planck Institute have developed an efficient new method to drive the quantum entanglement of photons, and demonstrated it by entangling a record number of photons. The technique could be a boon for quantum computers.

DNA mutates regularly, for better or worse, driving both evolution and disease. Researchers at the University of Surrey have now found evidence that some of these spontaneous mutations could be caused by the spooky realm of quantum mechanics.

It may seem like electronics will always get faster, but at some point the laws of physics intervene. Scientists have now calculated the absolute speed limit – the point at which quantum mechanics prevents microchips from getting any faster.

The universe is governed by two sets of seemingly incompatible laws of physics – classical and quantum physics. MIT physicists have now observed the moment atoms switch from one to the other, as they form intriguing “quantum tornadoes.”

Sandia National Laboratories is developing an avocado-sized vacuum chamber made out of titanium and sapphire that could one day use quantum mechanical sensors to provide GPS-grade navigation without the need for satellites.

There are many exotic states of matter besides the basics of solid, liquid, gas and plasma. One of these, known as a supersolid, was confirmed a few years ago, and now University of Innsbruck scientists have created it in a new two-dimensional form.

Classical physics describes how large objects and systems work on an everyday scale, while quantum physics describes the “spooky” subatomic world. Now scientists have observed a rare crossover where a quantum fluctuation affected a macroscale object.

Researchers at Empa and EPFL have created one of the smallest motors ever made. It’s composed of just 16 atoms, and at that tiny size it seems to function right on the boundary between classical physics and the spooky quantum realm.

​​Quantum entanglement, where two objects become intertwined and remain so no matter the distance that grows between them, is a tricky phenomenon to study let alone photograph. But scientists doing the former have now managed the latter, for the first time ever.

If you throw a particle at a wall, there’s a chance that it will suddenly appear on the other side. This is thanks to a phenomenon known as quantum tunneling, and now a team of physicists has measured just how long that process takes.

Quantum entanglement is the idea that two distant atoms can become so entwined that changes to one can instantly affect the other. Now scientists have managed to demonstrate it on a much larger scale, which is beginning to cross over into our everyday world.