Quantum Physics

Why have just one technological breakthrough when you can have two at the same time? The Royal Navy has installed for the first time a quantum clock into its XV Excalibur robotic submarine for extended precise underwater navigation.

Revolutionary technology is breaking out of the lab. The British government has announced that it is deploying a top-secret quantum clock, developed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, across the military over the next five years.

"Imagine a swing that, once pushed, keeps swinging for almost 100 years because it loses almost no energy through the ropes." So says a Delft University of Technology researcher who has helped his team accomplish a parallel feat at the nanoscale.

Researchers have developed a transparent window coating that lets in visible light but blocks heat-producing UV and infrared, not only reducing room temperature but also cutting energy consumption related to cooling the space.

Causality is key to our experience of reality: dropping a glass, for example, causes it to smash, so it can’t smash before it’s dropped. But scientists have now demonstrated how that understanding of time can be violated to charge a quantum battery.

Researchers in Germany have demonstrated quantum entanglement of two atoms separated by 33 km (20.5 miles) of fiber optics. This is a record distance for this kind of communication and marks a breakthrough towards a fast and secure quantum internet.

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.

In a breakthrough that could open up exciting new possibilities in computing and electronics, scientists in the US have developed a two-dimensional magnetic material that is the thinnest in the world, measuring just a single atom thick.

Using just a few hundred identical atoms, physicists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have pieced together the world’s lightest mirror, which is invisible to the naked eye and has a surface measured in mere microns.

Supercomputers and quantum computers rely on a “brute force” approach to solve problems, performing billions of calculations very quickly until they arrive at the optimal solution. But a new system has the potential to outperform them, using “magic dust” as a beacon to highlight the solution.