Quantum Physics

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.

“Stationary” has very different meanings in quantum scales – an object that looks perfectly still to us is made up of bouncing atoms. Now, scientists have managed to slow down the atoms almost to a complete stop in the largest macro-scale object yet.

Researchers have demonstrated a quantum microscope that can break through a fundamental barrier faced by regular microscopes and see tiny structures that are normally invisible. The device “squeezes” light to snap images with far greater clarity.

Quantum technology is bursting with potential, but controlling atoms and molecules keeps proving tricky. In a breakthrough new study, physicists have successfully wrangled thousands of molecules into a single unified quantum state for the first time.

There’s no such thing as random in classical physics – for true randomization you need to turn to quantum physics. Now scientists have done just that, creating secure encryption keys based on the genuine randomness of quantum vibrations of diamond.

Princeton physicists have accidentally discovered an unexpected quantum behavior in an insulator that was thought to be unique to metals. The find suggests a brand new type of quantum particle, which the team calls a neutral fermion.

Engineers at Brookhaven National Laboratory have designed a strange new X-ray microscope that takes advantage of the spooky world of quantum physics to “ghost image” biomolecules in high resolution but at a lower radiation dose.

Time crystals are strange phases of matter that appear to break time-translation symmetry. Now scientists have observed two time crystals interacting for the first time, which could be a step towards practical applications like quantum computing.

Which time travel movie got the rules right? According to experiments using a quantum time travel simulator, reality is “self-healing,” so changes made to the past won’t drastically alter the future you came from – at least, in the quantum realm.

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.

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.

In quantum entanglement, particle links are thought to be fragile. But now, physicists have managed to produce hot clouds of trillions of entangled atoms, breaking quantity records and showing that entanglement isn’t as fragile as previously thought.