RSS Parrot

Nuclear-spin swap extends room-temperature entanglement lifetime up to 240-fold

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-nuclear-swap-room-temperature-entanglement.html

Published: September 21, 2026 12:40

Researchers in China have extended the lifetime of entanglement in a room-temperature, solid-state system by up to a factor of 240. Led by Shuo Ren and Rui-Jian Liang at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, the team transferred…

Quantum communication protocol enables three users to establish a shared secure key

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-quantum-communication-protocol-enables-users.html

Published: September 21, 2026 12:00

Quantum key distribution allows two users to establish secret keys whose security is grounded in the laws of quantum mechanics. Extending this capability to multiple users is an essential step toward quantum networks that support secure communication among…

Scientists teleport quantum states across 100 parallel optical channels

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-scientists-teleport-quantum-states-parallel.html

Published: September 21, 2026 11:20

Quantum communication networks consist of several connected nodes that exchange information encoded in quantum states. These networks could potentially enable more secure communications between quantum devices in different locations.

X-ray light is like guitar music, with frequencies sliding continuously between harmonics

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ray-guitar-music-frequencies-harmonics.html

Published: September 21, 2026 09:40

Ultrashort laser pulses can be used to generate X-rays. Normally, however, only certain specific frequencies are produced. A team from TU Wien and the University of California San Diego has developed a method that makes it possible to tune the frequency…

Photonic Legos of functional 3D thin-films unlock high-performance heterogeneous photonic integration

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-photonic-legos-functional-3d-thin.html

Published: September 21, 2026 06:40

Photonic integrated circuits route information with optical signals instead of relying only on electrical currents. Silicon (Si) and silicon nitride (SiNx) are excellent photonic platforms for waveguides, but they cannot efficiently perform the…

Cooling liquids reveal self-limiting particle clusters behind glass transition

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cooling-liquids-reveal-limiting-particle.html

Published: September 20, 2026 17:30

Before diving into the mystery of glass, theoretical physicist Corentin Laudicina takes us back to high school physics for a moment. Although he has spent years studying exactly what happens in a material during the glass transition, he also understands…

Two-color light steers electrons through graphene's transient topological state

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-electrons-graphene-transient-topological-state.html

Published: September 19, 2026 15:20

The electronic properties of materials are typically determined by their structure under normal, undisturbed conditions, when they are in a state known as equilibrium. Intense light beams, however, can temporarily reshape a material's electronic band…

Physicists extend the search for quantum black holes at the LHC

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-physicists-quantum-black-holes-lhc.html

Published: September 18, 2026 14:20

Physicists at UC Santa Barbara have extended the search for evidence of microscopic black holes produced at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The formation of these tiny, fleeting objects at the LHC…

Laser experiments recreate solar flare physics and reveal consistent magnetic reconnection rates

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-laser-recreate-solar-flare-physics.html

Published: September 18, 2026 13:40

Magnetic reconnection is a process that occurs when the magnetic fields of a conductive plasma quickly rearrange and release massive amounts of stored magnetic energy. It is widely thought to be the underlying mechanism behind cosmic events such as solar…

An extremely stable quantum gas offers a new lens on strongly interacting systems

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-extremely-stable-quantum-gas-lens.html

Published: September 18, 2026 12:20

Molecular gases are a new form of artificial quantum matter. However, when these molecules collide, they are often lost extremely rapidly. Researchers from Radboud University and Columbia University have been able to suppress this collisional loss, paving…

Stacked 2D materials reveal room-temperature multiferroicity and voltage-controlled magnetism

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-stacked-2d-materials-reveal-room.html

Published: September 18, 2026 09:20

Multiferroics are materials that simultaneously exhibit two or more ferroic orders—stable arrangements of physical properties that can be switched using an external stimulus. These materials could be highly advantageous for the development of various…

Chemists overturn 40-year assumption about a key class of superconductors

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-chemists-overturn-year-assumption-key.html

Published: September 17, 2026 19:00

Scientists at Warwick have shown that a material treated for 40 years as a uniform, textbook superconductor is in fact a patchwork of different crystal structures throughout its bulk, using an advanced 3D imaging technique to see deep inside the crystal…

Close-up images show defects locking electrons into stable Wigner solids

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-images-defects-electrons-stable-wigner.html

Published: September 17, 2026 17:00

A team of researchers led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) developed an approach that enabled them to directly observe how electrons interact with defects in advanced semiconductor devices in…

Disorder is key to tuning a high-temperature superconductor

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-disorder-key-tuning-high-temperature.html

Published: September 17, 2026 16:40

Cornell physicists have discovered that minimizing disorder, not varying electron count, is the key factor for controlling superconductivity in the unique material iron selenide (FeSe), a new insight for understanding high-temperature superconductors.

A new bridge for quantum networks: Physicists convert microwaves to light using 2D magnets

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-bridge-quantum-networks-physicists-microwaves.html

Published: September 17, 2026 16:30

Physicists at The City College of New York have demonstrated a new way to transfer microwave signals onto light using magnetic waves inside a layered semiconductor. The work establishes a materials platform for building interfaces that could one day link…

What kills Schrödinger's cat? Underground experiment rules out gravity model for quantum decoherence

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-schrdinger-cat-underground-gravity-quantum.html

Published: September 17, 2026 15:00

Somewhere between the microscopic realm of elementary particles and the macroscopic world of human beings, something strange happens: The rules of quantum physics, which work so exquisitely for tiny atoms, seem to lose their grip as objects grow larger.…

Real-time quantum jump in sound observed for first time

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-real-quantum.html

Published: September 17, 2026 14:00

A Stanford team has documented the first direct observation of quantum jumps of sound in a mechanical resonator, completing an arc of scientific exploration that started more than 100 years ago.

New benchmark puts quantum computers to the test and reveals their limitations

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-benchmark-quantum-reveals-limitations.html

Published: September 17, 2026 13:10

Quantum computers are no longer theoretical concepts. Today, they are being developed to tackle a range of complex problems, including exploring financial risk, modeling complex molecules and optimizing massive logistics networks. However, until now, there…

Diamond quantum sensors can detect heart magnetism at room temperature without skin contact

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-diamond-quantum-sensors-heart-magnetism.html

Published: September 17, 2026 11:40

Physicists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have developed a technology that uses quantum sensors to measure biomagnetic signals, such as heart activity. Researchers from the DIAQNOS (DIAmond-based Quantum Sensing for NeurOSurgery) flagship…

Robotic lab sets up and runs optics experiments on demand

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-robotic-lab-optics-demand.html

Published: September 17, 2026 10:40

Every new generation of phone display, television screen and solar panel is the result of precision optics experiments, which use lasers and other light sources to measure the optical properties of candidate materials. These experiments can take months to…

Is dark matter 'natural?' Physicist puts the question to the test

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-dark-natural-physicist.html

Published: September 17, 2026 10:10

Dark matter is one of the oldest open problems in physics. It makes up most of the matter in the universe and shapes how galaxies form and move, yet no one has ever directly detected it. Physicists have proposed dozens of candidates to explain it: exotic…

Handheld scanner delivers lab-quality chemical composition maps using infrared light

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-handheld-scanner-lab-quality-chemical.html

Published: September 17, 2026 10:00

Researchers have developed a compact, handheld mid-infrared imaging spectrometer that can produce high-resolution chemical maps of a sample without using stains or labels. With further development, the handheld device might provide a portable and…

Hot electrons reveal electronic collisions may raise resistance in twisted graphene

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-hot-electrons-reveal-electronic-collisions.html

Published: September 16, 2026 19:40

When a material heats up, its electrical resistance often rises. The harder question is what, exactly, is getting in the way. The electrons carrying the current may be scattered by vibrations of the material's atomic lattice, known as phonons. They may…

Mobile trap transports 92 antiprotons by road and stores them for over a month in world first

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-mobile-antiprotons-road-month-world.html

Published: September 16, 2026 18:30

In March 2026, scientists succeeded in transporting antiprotons by road for the first time in a purpose-built trap loaded on a truck. The BASE collaboration, which realized this experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva…

Roll waves emerge as uniform water flow destabilizes on steep slopes, equations show

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-emerge-uniform-destabilizes-steep-slopes.html

Published: September 16, 2026 17:00

When it rains, traveling waves appear on steep asphalt pavement, slowly making their way down the slope. Because these so-called "roll waves" propagate without deforming and are typically characterized by abrupt discontinuities, they play an important role…

Circular Rydberg atoms set three records, staying stable for 11 milliseconds

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-circular-rydberg-atoms-staying-stable.html

Published: September 16, 2026 15:20

Rydberg atoms are considered promising building blocks for quantum computers and their precursors, quantum simulators. Researchers at the 5th Institute of Physics of the University of Stuttgart have achieved record values for the lifetime, size, and…

Sliding droplets point to charging mechanism beyond mobile ions

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-droplets-mechanism-mobile-ions.html

Published: September 16, 2026 14:40

Whether on a windowpane at home or during the industrial cleaning of computer chips: droplets sliding over solid surfaces become electrically charged. Yet the physical mechanism behind this charging remains a subject of debate. This charging is usually…

How some cyclists paradoxically start 'from rest' with a non-zero velocity

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-cyclists-paradoxically-rest-velocity.html

Published: September 16, 2026 11:10

Some track cyclists appear to break the rules of physics, but a new study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, has created a model explaining the illusion. The results suggest that a quick succession of well-timed moves can help cyclists…

Dual findings reveal how to control coherence in plasmonic nanolasers

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-dual-reveal-coherence-plasmonic-nanolasers.html

Published: September 16, 2026 10:40

Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have uncovered two complementary mechanisms that govern coherence in miniaturized lasers composed of metallic nanoparticle arrays incorporated into an optical gain material, also known as plasmonic lattice…

Heating mica to 200°C reveals friction independent of sliding speed

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-mica-200c-reveals-friction-independent.html

Published: September 16, 2026 09:20

Through joint research with the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Tokyo, NIMS for the first time experimentally demonstrated friction completely independent of sliding velocity—an ideal that had never been realized—by heating mica, a layered…

New simulations link unusual particle diffusion to yielding in soft jammed matter

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-simulations-link-unusual-particle-diffusion.html

Published: September 16, 2026 05:00

Soft materials such as colloidal suspensions, emulsions, foams and gels often display complex and unusual behaviors compared with ordinary solids or liquids. From a mechanical point of view, for instance, they can resist deformation like solids, but they…

Study explores new photonics advance: Topology imprinting in nonlinear metasurfaces

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-explores-photonics-advance-topology-imprinting.html

Published: September 15, 2026 21:40

Light is traditionally described by properties such as wavelength, amplitude, phase and polarization. Advances in optics have shown that light can also be shaped into complex spatial patterns known as structured light, enabling new ways to carry…

Disordered atoms steer shared light pulses by matching motion and timing

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-disordered-atoms-pulses-motion.html

Published: September 15, 2026 17:00

A research team at the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Darmstadt has shown for the first time that atoms that are completely disordered and in constant motion can nevertheless emit jointly directed light preferentially in one direction—even though…

Magnets could help quantum computers talk to each other, says researcher

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-magnets-quantum.html

Published: September 15, 2026 16:00

Xufeng Zhang is using magnets to make computers more power efficient at the quantum level. The Northeastern professor of electrical and computer engineering recently published two papers highlighting small-scale magnetic systems he and his team developed…

Novel particle beam could challenge Einstein's theory of gravity

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-particle-einstein-theory-gravity.html

Published: September 15, 2026 09:40

Does gravity act equally on all particles in the universe, or are there differences between ordinary and exotic matter? Physics professor Anna Soter and her team at ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen are investigating this…

From atomic vibrations to laboratory mechanics: Bridging 20 orders of magnitude in time

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-atomic-vibrations-laboratory-mechanics-bridging.html

Published: September 14, 2026 18:00

How can we predict the way a real material, such as a polymer, responds mechanically over timescales ranging from the ultrafast motion of atoms to the slow deformations measured in a laboratory? This is a deceptively difficult problem.

Speedy electrons for brilliant laser light: Research paves the way for compact, inexpensive free-electron lasers

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-speedy-electrons-brilliant-laser-paves.html

Published: September 14, 2026 13:00

Extremely short, intense light flashes are in high demand to investigate atoms, molecules and new materials. Free-electron lasers (FELs) produce these flashes. But around the world, beam time available at large-scale user facilities is in short supply, and…

Getting photons into shape for reliable quantum communication

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-photons-reliable-quantum-communication.html

Published: September 14, 2026 12:20

The vast majority of modern quantum technologies—from quantum cryptography to the quantum internet to the quantum computer—rely on one essential element: the transmission of photons. Two qubits (two atoms, for example) exchange information: One qubit emits…

Physicists help uncover 'spooky' quantum effect in the Large Hadron Collider

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-physicists-uncover-spooky-quantum-effect.html

Published: September 14, 2026 10:12

Physicists at the University of Oxford have helped confirm that one of the strangest phenomena in physics—quantum entanglement—occurs even among some of the heaviest and most fleeting particles ever created. The discovery, made using the world's most…

Ultracold cesium atoms reveal Bethe strings predicted nearly a century ago

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ultracold-cesium-atoms-reveal-bethe.html

Published: September 14, 2026 08:40

In 1931, physicist Hans Bethe predicted that, in certain one-dimensional quantum systems, particles can bind together to form multi-particle states known as Bethe strings. Unlike ordinary molecules, which are held together by chemical bonds, Bethe strings…