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Category: computing – Page 3

New cryogenic vacuum chamber cuts noise for quantum ion trapping

Even very slight environmental noise, such as microscopic vibrations or magnetic field fluctuations a hundred times smaller than Earth’s magnetic field, can be catastrophic for quantum computing experiments with trapped ions.

To address that challenge, researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed an improved cryogenic vacuum chamber that helps reduce some common noise sources by isolating ions from vibrations and shielding them from magnetic field fluctuations. The new chamber also incorporates an improved imaging system and a radio frequency (RF) coil that can be used to drive ion transitions from within the chamber.

“There’s a lot of excitement around quantum computing today, and trapped ions are just one of the research platforms available, each with their own benefits and drawbacks,” explained Darian Hartsell, a GTRI research scientist who leads the project. “We are trying to mitigate multiple sources of noise in this chamber and make other improvements with one robust new design.”

Optical technique reveals hidden magnetic states in antiferromagnets

Imagine computer hardware that is blazing fast and stores more data in less space. That’s the promise of antiferromagnets, magnetic materials that do not interfere with each other and can switch states at high speed, opening the door to advanced computing and quantum applications.

Magnetism comes from unpaired electrons, tiny particles that orbit an atom’s nucleus. Each electron has a property called spin, which can point up or down. In standard ferromagnets, the atomic spins point in the same direction, creating a strong magnetic field. In antiferromagnets, neighboring spins point in opposite directions, canceling each other out and yielding no net magnetism.

Flipping individual spins in an antiferromagnet requires very little movement of magnetization, which allows ultrafast processing. Antiferromagnets can switch states trillions of times per second, compared with billions for ferromagnets. With net zero magnetism, antiferromagnets can be placed very close together without repelling or attracting each other, allowing more data to be stored in a small space.

Metal clumps in a quantum state: Physicists place thousands of sodium atoms in a ‘Schrödinger’s cat state’

Can a small lump of metal be in a quantum state that extends over distant locations? A research team at the University of Vienna answers this question with a resounding yes. In the journal Nature, physicists from the University of Vienna and the University of Duisburg-Essen show that even massive nanoparticles consisting of thousands of sodium atoms follow the rules of quantum mechanics. The experiment is currently one of the best tests of quantum mechanics on a macroscopic scale.

In quantum mechanics, not only light but also matter can behave both as a particle and as a wave. This has been proven many times for electrons, atoms, and small molecules through double-slit diffraction or interference experiments. However, we do not see this in everyday life: marbles, stones, and dust particles have a well-defined location and a predictable trajectory; they follow the rules of classical physics.

At the University of Vienna, the team led by Markus Arndt and Stefan Gerlich has now demonstrated for the first time that the wave nature of matter is also preserved in massive metallic nanoparticles. The scale of the particles is impressive: the clusters have a diameter of around 8 nanometers, which is comparable to the size of modern transistor structures.

Scientists Discover a New Quantum State of Matter Once Considered Impossible

A quantum state of matter has appeared in a material where physicists thought it would be impossible, forcing a rethink on the conditions that govern the behaviors of electrons in certain materials.

The discovery, made by an international team of researchers, could inform advances in quantum computing, improve electronic efficiencies, and deliver enhanced sensing and imaging technologies.

The state, described as a topological semimetal phase, was theoretically predicted to appear at low temperatures in a material composed of cerium, ruthenium, and tin (CeRu4Sn6), before experiments verified its existence.

New smart chip reduces consumption and computing time, advancing high-performance computing

A new chip aims to dramatically reduce energy consumption while accelerating the processing of large amounts of data.

A paper on this work appears in the journal Nature Electronics.

The chip was developed by a group of researchers from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering–DEIB at the Politecnico di Milano, led by Professor Daniele Ielmini, with researcher Piergiulio Mannocci as the first author.

Super-Earths May Have Stronger Magnetic Fields Than Earth

“A strong magnetic field is very important for life on a planet,” said Dr. Miki Nakajima.

How can magnetic fields help determine the habitability of exoplanets? This is what a recent study published in Nature Astronomy hopes to address as a team of researchers from the University of Rochester and the University of California, Los Angeles investigated the formation processes that create magnetic fields on Earth and exoplanets slightly larger than Earth called super-Earths. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand planetary formation processes and the planetary conditions to search for life as we know it.

For the study, the researchers used a combination of laboratory experiments and computer models to simulate the formation processes of exoplanets, specifically focusing on the formation of the interior magma ocean responsible for generating the planet’s magnetic field like on Earth. The goal of the study was to estimate the long-term evolution of super-Earths, which are estimated to be between 1–10 Earth masses and 2–3 Earth radii. In the end, the researchers found that super-Earths between 3–6 Earth masses can produce magnetic fields that are stronger than Earths for up to several billion years.

“A strong magnetic field is very important for life on a planet,” said Dr. Miki Nakajima, who is an associate professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Rochester and lead author of the study. “But most of the terrestrial planets in the solar system, such as Venus and Mars, do not have them because their cores don’t have the right physical conditions to generate a magnetic field. However, super-earths can produce dynamos in their core and/or magma, which can increase their planetary habitability.”

It started with a cat: How 100 years of quantum weirdness powers today’s tech

A hundred years ago, quantum mechanics was a radical theory that baffled even the brightest minds. Today, it’s the backbone of technologies that shape our lives, from lasers and microchips to quantum computers and secure communications.

In a sweeping new perspective published in Science, Dr. Marlan Scully, a university distinguished professor at Texas A&M University, traces the journey of quantum mechanics from its quirky beginnings to its role in solving some of science’s toughest challenges.

“Quantum mechanics started as a way to explain the behavior of tiny particles,” said Scully, who is also affiliated with Princeton University. “Now it’s driving innovations that were unimaginable just a generation ago.”

An electrically powered source of entangled light on a chip

Quantum technologies are cutting-edge systems that can process, transfer, or store information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, particularly a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. Entanglement entails a correlation between two or more distant particles, whereby measuring the state of one also defines the state of the others.

In recent years, quantum physicists and engineers have been trying to realize devices that operate leveraging the entanglement between individual particles of light (i.e., photons). The reliable operation of these devices relies on so-called entangled photon sources (EPSs), components that can generate entangled pairs of photons.

Researchers at University of Science and Technology of China, Jinan Institute of Quantum Technology, CAS Institute of Semiconductors and other institutes recently realized a new EPS integrated onto a single photonic chip, which can generate entangled photons via an electrically powered laser. Their study is published in Physical Review Letters.

Entangling gates on degenerate spin qubits dressed by a global field

Global control of a qubits using a single microwave field is a promising strategy for scalable quantum computing. Here the authors demonstrate individual addressability vial local electrodes and two-qubit gates in an array of Si quantum dot spin qubits dressed by a global microwave field and driven on-resonance.

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