A simple mechanical system built from aluminium rods uses vibrations to encode information, mimicking quantum computing in a non-quantum system

Comparing the properties of qubits in different quantum computers is challenging, but AI can tell them apart even when the state of the qubits is 98 per cent similar

Understanding the interactions between quantum physics and gravity within a black hole is one of the thorniest problems in physics, but quantum computers could soon offer an answer

An object made of hundreds of atoms exhibits a quantum property normally only associated with very small objects Quantum entanglement. Conceptual artwork of a pair of entangled quantum particles or events (left and right) interacting at a distance. Quantum entanglement is one of the consequences of quantum theory. Two particles will appear to be linked across space and time, with changes to one of the particles (such as an observation or measurement) affecting the other one. This instantaneous effect appears to be independent of both space and time, meaning that, in the quantum realm, effect may precede cause. A quantum…

An object made of hundreds of atoms exhibits a quantum property normally only associated with very small objects Quantum entanglement. Conceptual artwork of a pair of entangled quantum particles or events (left and right) interacting at a distance. Quantum entanglement is one of the consequences of quantum theory. Two particles will appear to be linked across space and time, with changes to one of the particles (such as an observation or measurement) affecting the other one. This instantaneous effect appears to be independent of both space and time, meaning that, in the quantum realm, effect may precede cause. A concept…

Researchers have put a sapphire crystal containing quadrillions of atoms into a superposition of quantum states, bringing quantum effects into the macroscopic world The sapphire crystal resonator used by ETH researchers to probe the validity of quantum mechanics in objects consisting of trillions of atoms.?(Image: ETH Zurich) The sapphire crystal resonator used to probe the limits of quantum mechanics Quantum effects have been demonstrated on one of the largest scales ever, pushing the boundaries of the quantum world. A crystal of 10^16 atoms has been placed in a superposition of two quantum states, breaking the previous record of only 2000…

Get to grips with the deepest layer of reality we know of with our inventory of the subatomic realm, from known particles like quarks and the Higgs boson to hypotheticals including the fifth force and strings in 11 dimensions

Great leaps are already being made in creating a super secure quantum internet. It could overturn the role of information in our lives and give us a globe-spanning quantum supercomputer

WHEN a powerful new technology comes around, people often split into two camps: those captivated by its benefits and those worried by the trouble it could unleash. This has happened with everything from knitting machines in the 16th century to artificial intelligence today. It is, of course, a false dichotomy. As physicist and artificial intelligence researcher Max Tegmark put it in this magazine: “Are you the kind of person who thinks fire can kill people or the sort of person who thinks that fire can keep people warm in the winter? Both things are true, obviously.” (18 July 2020) We…

Clouds of atoms can hide their light. When an atom moves to a lower-energy state, it emits a particle of light called a photon. But this process can be delayed and photons kept trapped inside a dense cloud of atoms, which may eventually prove useful for quantum devices that communicate using light. When an atom absorbs a photon, exciting it to a higher-energy state, it will always release that photon and return to its initial state in approximately the same amount of time. When this process is delayed, it is called subradiance. Igor Ferrier-Barbut at the University of Paris-Saclay in…