Quantum Physics

Scientists have taken a major step toward ultra-secure quantum communication by demonstrating a remarkably stable quantum encryption system that worked across more than 120 kilometers of optical fiber. Using tiny semiconductor quantum dots that emit single particles of light on demand, the team achieved one of the highest secure key rates yet for this type of technology while maintaining continuous operation for over six hours without manual adjustments.

Physicists may have just cracked open a hidden side of the quantum world. For decades, every known particle was thought to belong to one of two categories — bosons or fermions — but researchers have now shown that bizarre “in-between” particles called anyons could also exist in a one-dimensional system. Even more exciting, these strange particles may be adjustable, allowing scientists to tune their behavior in ways never before possible.

May 9, 2026: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment will study nature’s most mysterious particle a mile beneath South Dakota’s Black Hills, and potentially reveal the origins of matter

When complete in 2031, DUNE-LBNF will study the properties of neutrinos The post Officials hail ‘major milestone’ for US Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment appeared first on Physics World.

Scientists tested a live quantum internet between three locations across New York, inching closer to an unhackable internet.

In a process analogous to how solids melt into liquids, the electrons in many different metals form crystal-like patterns that can deform and melt, opening new pathways for neuromorphic computing and superconductors, University of Michigan Engineering researchers have found.

On the International Space Station, a cube holding a diamond-based sensor revealed the potential for quantum magnetometers.

For years, quantum computers have lived under a huge bubble of hype, promising to revolutionize numerous fields, from medicine and battery design to materials science and cybersecurity. But realizing their potential on any serious practical level will only be possible if large numbers of qubits (the basic units of information) can interact with each other with high precision and flexibility.

Theories of quantum mechanics predict that some particles can exist in superpositions, which essentially means that they can be in more than one state at once. When a particle's state is measured, however, this superposition appears to "collapse" into a single outcome; a phenomenon often referred to as the "measurement problem."

New analyses by the IceCube observatory could help scientists understand where neutrinos form and what is producing them The post Gap in neutrino energy spectrum raises questions about cosmic environments appeared first on Physics World.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and collaborators have developed a predictive design strategy for creating graphene-like molecules with multiple interacting spins and enhanced resilience to magnetic perturbations, opening new avenues for molecular-scale quantum information technologies and next-generation spintronics.

Quantum geometry describes quantum states in systems with changing system parameters, such as an electron spinning in a magnetic field whose direction is slowly changing. The state of the electron evolves, and this change is quantified by what is known as the quantum geometric distance.

Quantum batteries can be charged remotely and could allow for far better energy density than conventional batteries used in devices today.

Scientists have discovered the cause of a persistent glitch that continues to disrupt superconducting quantum computers, even when they have built-in defenses. For all their advanced hardware, superconducting quantum computers are vulnerable to errors caused by ionizing radiation from space or the environment. Radiation particles interfere with the chip substrate (the silicon base the processor is built on), which leads to the creation of rogue particles (quasiparticles) that disrupt the qubits, the basic units of quantum computers.

Author(s): Ryan WilkinsonBy combining quantum error correction with fault-tolerant techniques, researchers have improved how accurately a quantum computer estimates a molecule’s energy. [Physics 19, s52] Published Thu Apr 30, 2026

Creating quantum entanglement inside a solid material is tricky in the lab – but crystals buried in the earth could be growing it naturally. Now one scientist says he has proof he’s found them

Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine is the new CEO of Quantum Space, a company developing maneuverable spacecraft for use by the U.S. military and commercial operators.

Kalli Zervas was at a California art school when she found she had a knack for math. She taught

Two quantum computers and two supercomputers teamed up to break the record on the biggest molecule yet to be simulated using quantum hardware

Author(s): Gianluigi CatelaniNewly identified correlated errors in superconducting qubits could limit the performance of error-correction schemes needed for a practical quantum computer. [Physics 19, 62] Published Mon May 04, 2026

Symmetry is one of the most fundamental principles in nature. It describes the rules that make an object look unchanged after a rotation, reflection, or other transformations. In materials, symmetry governs how atoms and electrons are arranged, and how they move together. Crucially, symmetry can even prevent certain collective atomic motions (vibrations) from interacting at all: some are simply forbidden to talk to each other. But what if those symmetry restrictions are not as rigid as they seem?

Magnons are tiny waves in magnetization that travel through solid magnetic materials, much like the ripples that spread across a pond when a stone is thrown into it. Unlike photons, which travel through empty space or optical fibers, magnons propagate within a magnetic solid. Their wavelengths can be reduced to the nanometer range, meaning that magnonic circuits could, in principle, fit onto a chip no larger than those found in today's smartphones. Furthermore, as an excitation of a solid, a magnon naturally couples to numerous other fundamental quasi-particles—phonons, photons and others—making it an ideal building block for hybrid quantum systems and quantum metrology.

Quantum technology has promising potential to revolutionize how large and complex amounts of information are processed. While already in use primarily in laboratory and research settings globally, quantum technologies are in a transition phase for broader industry applications across many economic sectors.

Quantum technologies have experienced remarkable progress in recent years. Some, such as quantum encryption, already feature in consumer electronics. Others, such as quantum computing, have not yet left the laboratory. Photonic sources play an important part in this development. They are comparatively simple; most often, they work without extreme cooling. Some quantum sources are well on their way toward miniaturization and integration. Weak coherent sources Quantum key distribution (QKD) attempts to supply a random sequence of signals that constitute a key for encryption. Such a key must be truly random (without any statistical deviation that allows certain letters to be identified), and the method of transmission must be...

Scientists have created a powerful new way to control quantum systems, achieving the first-ever demonstration of quadsqueezing—an elusive fourth-order quantum effect. By combining simple forces in a clever way, they made previously hidden quantum behaviors visible and usable, opening new frontiers for quantum technology.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have demonstrated a new type of quantum interaction using a single trapped ion. By creating and controlling increasingly complex forms of "squeezing" – including a fourth-order effect known as quadsqueezing – the team has, for the first time, made previously unreachable quantum effects experimentally accessible.

The implications of quantum mechanics suggest reality isn't as solid as we think it is, but physicist David Bohm had a spin on the theory that restores reality. Columnist Karmela Padavic-Callaghan explores how we could test Bohmian mechanics – and if it will ever become more widely accepted

Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have broken a longstanding barrier by managing to send single photons—that can't be copied or split and thus are secure—in the network of optical fibers we already have. This opens up a broad range of applications relying on secure quantum information. The research is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

In thermodynamics, an "adiabatic process" is a system change that transfers no heat in or out of the system. Any and all energy change in that system are therefore accomplished by doing work on the system, work being action that moves matter over a distance. (An example is a bicycle tire pump or lifting a box from the floor.)

Quantum bits (qubits) are the fundamental building blocks of quantum information processing. A novel qubit platform invented at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory exhibits noise levels thousands of times lower than those of most traditional qubits. "Noise" refers to disturbances in the environment that diminish a qubit's performance. The platform was built by trapping single electrons on the surface of frozen neon gas. The recent finding positions Argonne's platform as a strong contender in the field of high-performance quantum technologies.

Counterintuitive quantum property turns out to be the hidden backbone of fault-tolerant quantum computers The post The weirdness of quantum contextuality is not a bug – it’s a feature appeared first on Physics World.

Scientists have pulled off a first: teleporting a photon’s state between two separate quantum dots. This was done over a 270-meter open-air link, proving quantum information can travel between independent devices. The achievement marks a key step toward building quantum networks for ultra-secure communication. It also sets the stage for more advanced systems like quantum relays.

Author(s): Ryan WilkinsonA new technique efficiently detects quantum entanglement using just a small set of measurements. [Physics 19, s61] Published Wed Apr 29, 2026

Author(s): Livia Eleonora BoveThe transitions of hydrogen molecules embedded in a crystal depend on the surroundings—a behavior that could be used to tailor molecular quantum dynamics. [Physics 19, 61] Published Wed Apr 29, 2026

A new study by University of Maryland chemical physicists demonstrates how to control the nuclear spin of molecular hydrogen (H2) by simply freezing it in dry ice. This new technique, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, could improve energy storage for hydrogen fuel, memory for quantum computing and the ability to measure comet temperatures in outer space.

Researchers at the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), Japan, and The University of Tokyo, Japan, in collaboration with Kyushu University, Japan, have developed a new class of biocompatible molecular quantum nanosensors (MoQNs) that operate inside living cells.

Theoretical physicists in the US have discovered a "speed limit" on the time taken for quantum information to spread through larger systems. Publishing their results in Physical Review Letters, Amit Vikram and colleagues at the University of Maryland have proved for the first time that this minimum time is closely linked with a system's entropy and temperature, perhaps paving the way for a deeper understanding of quantum information across a wide range of physical settings.

A new recipe of "quadratic gravity" could help to better define the picture of the Big Bang and the singularity that existed prior to the dawn of time.

Scientists have achieved a breakthrough by "distilling" light to eliminate the noise that prevents photonic quantum computers from scaling.

The idea that everything that exists can be built from the bottom up has long held sway among physicists. Now, a new kind of science is under construction that centres conscious experience – and might unravel the universe’s biggest mysteries

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Nature is the foremost international weekly scientific journal in the world and is the flagship journal for Nature Portfolio. It publishes the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature publishes landmark papers, award winning news, leading comment and expert opinion on important, topical scientific news and events that enable readers to share the latest discoveries in science and evolve the discussion amongst the global scientific community.

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Researchers have, for the first time, directly visualized how electronic patterns known as charge density waves evolve across a phase transition. Using cutting-edge microscopy, they found these patterns form unevenly, breaking into patches influenced by tiny structural distortions. Unexpectedly, small pockets of order persist even above the transition temperature. This reveals that electronic order fades gradually rather than disappearing all at once.

Researchers at McGill University have developed a novel device that generates sound-like particles known as phonons at extremely cold temperatures. The technology could be used to create phonon lasers, with possible applications in communications and medical diagnostics.

Scientists have created tiny “optical tornadoes” — swirling beams of light that twist like miniature whirlwinds — using a surprisingly simple setup based on liquid crystals. Instead of relying on complex nanotechnology, the team used self-organizing structures called torons to trap and manipulate light, causing it to spiral and rotate in intricate ways. Even more impressively, they achieved this effect in light’s most stable, lowest-energy state, making it far easier to generate laser-like beams with these unusual properties.

Superconducting qubits—bits of quantum information—have been widely considered a promising technology for moving quantum computing forward. But there’s

In the exotic world of particle physics, neutrinos may be the most mysterious members. They rarely interact with other matter, have almost no mass, and have no electrical charge. These characteristics make them extremely difficult to study. Even detecting them requires specialized facilities in deep caves, in thick Antarctic ice, or on the ocean floor.

Three RIKEN researchers have demonstrated a way to stop problematic "dark modes" from squelching intriguing effects in quantum systems. This advance could help with the development of more versatile quantum devices that can be used to control the storage and transmission of quantum information. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

Cerca Magnetics, a developer of quantum brain scanning technology, has raised £3.8 million ($5.1M) in a series funding round. A spinout from the University of Nottingham School of Physics and Astronomy, Cerca Magnetics has developed a wearable brain scanner that uses quantum sensors to measure neural activity with high precision. The funding will support clinical approval, manufacturing scale-up and international expansion. Its system is based on magnetoencephalography, which detects tiny magnetic fields generated by electrical activity in the brain. Cerca Magnetics replaces traditional fixed scanners with lightweight wearable optically pumped magnetometers. These quantum sensors allow patients to move naturally during scans...

Physicists have long suspected that there is a layer of physical reality beneath quantum theory and a new mathematical model unveils just how strange it might be

Cisco has unveiled its Cisco Universal Quantum Switch, which it calls a critical milestone in quantum networking, addressing a critical barrier to building a quantum network. As a working research prototype, it’s the latest proof point in Cisco's accelerating full-stack quantum networking program, built on years of foundational research, real-world demonstrations, and a growing ecosystem of strategic collaborations. Quantum computers encode information in different ways, and until now, no switch could accept and translate between all major encoding modalities without destroying the quantum information in the process. The Cisco Universal Quantum Switch is designed to address this challenge for the first time, routing quantum...

Cerca Magnetics, a developer of quantum brain scanning technology, has raised £3.8 million ($5.1M) in a series funding round. A spinout from the University of Nottingham School of Physics and Astronomy, Cerca Magnetics has developed a wearable brain scanner that uses quantum sensors to measure neural activity with high precision. The funding will support clinical approval, manufacturing scale-up and international expansion. Its system is based on magnetoencephalography, which detects tiny magnetic fields generated by electrical activity in the brain. Cerca Magnetics replaces traditional fixed scanners with lightweight wearable sensors known as optically pumped magnetometers. These let patients move naturally during scans,...

The most demanding calculations in quantum chemistry can now be solved with graphics processing unit (GPU) supercomputers. A recently published study shows that software adapted to use GPU hardware can provide not just speed, but also the accuracy needed to solve complex chemistry problems. The work solved the two chemical structures often seen as too complex and expensive to tackle. The advance, published in the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, could allow researchers to make meaningful progress in designing new catalysts and improve predicted behaviors of magnetic and electronic materials.

Excitons are being explored in materials science and information technology as a means of storing light. These luminous quasiparticles move through individual layers of quantum materials and can absorb and emit light with high efficiency. They form when a laser pulse excites an electron, leaving behind a positively charged "hole." The electron and hole attract each other and behave together like a new, independent particle. When the quasiparticle recombines, it emits light and can be detected in high-tech laboratories.

Neutrinos are very difficult to detect. And when they are detected, pinpointing their sources is likewise difficult. New research shows that the most energetic neutrino ever detected must have had an extraordinarly energetic source. It could even be primordial.

Quantum computers, devices that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, could tackle some tasks that are difficult or impossible to solve using classical computers. These systems represent data as qubits, units of information that can exist in multiple states at once, unlike the bits used by classical computers that represent data using binary values ("0" or "1").

Florence Concepcion of Aquark Technologies is our podcast guest The post Quantum sensors benefit from miniaturized ultrahigh vacuum appeared first on Physics World.

It was a head-spinning discovery. In 2018, researchers in Japan claimed to find concrete evidence of an elusive particle, a Majorana fermion, in a quantum spin liquid called ruthenium trichloride. Majoranas are highly sought-after by quantum materials scientists because when a pair are localized, or trapped, they can securely encode information and form a stable qubit—the building block of quantum computing.

When you throw a ball in the air, the equations of classical physics will tell you exactly what path the ball will take as it falls, and when and where it will land. But if you were to squeeze that same ball down to the size of an atom or smaller, it would behave in ways beyond anything that classical physics can predict.

Only about 5% of the universe is composed of normal matter that we can directly observe, while the remaining 95% is widely believed to consist of dark matter and dark energy. Paradoxically, however, the nature of these dark components remains unknown. Is this due to limitations in our observational capabilities, or does it reflect a more fundamental incompleteness in the classical laws of physics that have long underpinned our understanding of the universe?

A mysterious magnetic material once thought to host an exotic “quantum spin liquid” has turned out to be something entirely different—and possibly just as intriguing. Scientists studying cerium magnesium hexalluminate found it showed the hallmark signs of this elusive quantum state, like a lack of magnetic order and a spread of energy states. But after closer inspection using neutron experiments, they discovered the behavior came from a delicate tug-of-war between two opposing magnetic forces.

Mark Saunders explains why intellectual property is crucial for quantum technology The post Why patents are so vital for the quantum economy appeared first on Physics World.

As long as there's been an internet, there's been a way to hack it. Scientists have spent decades imagining a different kind of network, one where the laws of physics make eavesdropping physically impossible, not just technically difficult. They call that dream a quantum internet.

Researchers have developed a way to flip time to move backward in a quantum system. This level of control could lead to bizarre real-world applications

Researchers have discovered a new way to tune the quantum properties of tiny defects in diamond—by gently stretching or compressing the crystal. These findings could pave the way for next-generation sensors that can detect pressure, temperature, and other physical changes with unprecedented precision.

A quantum spin liquid is a phase of matter in which the magnetic moments in a material do not align or freeze, even at temperatures close to absolute zero (i.e., at 0 K). The experimental realization of this highly dynamic state could have important implications for the development of quantum computers and other technologies that operate leveraging quantum mechanical effects.

Researchers stretch the limits of how far artificial intelligence can contribute to scientific discovery The post Meta-design: language models generate novel quantum experiments appeared first on Physics World.

A joint theoretical study by the University of Innsbruck and Zhejiang University has uncovered the microscopic origin of a striking quantum phenomenon: a periodically driven gas of ultracold atoms that simply refuses to heat up, defying classical expectations.

Superconducting qubits—bits of quantum information—have been widely considered a promising technology for moving quantum computing forward. But there's still much work to be done before they can be brought out of a near absolute zero temperature environment. The lab of Professor Hong Tang has recently published two studies that advance the technology.

Few concepts in physics are as familiar, yet as enigmatic, as time. In Einstein's theory of relativity, time is not absolute: its passage depends on motion and gravity. But when combined with quantum physics, this relativistic form of time becomes even more counterintuitive.

Two independent research teams have each demonstrated collisional quantum gates using fermionic atoms: a long-sought milestone in quantum computing where logic operations are performed through the direct physical overlap of atoms, rather than forcing them into fragile, highly excited states.

Pushing against years of scepticism, an analysis suggests quantum computers may offer real advantages for running machine learning and similar algorithms in the near future

In the quirky quantum world, particles can be affected by forces that they never directly encounter. A classic example is the Aharonov–Bohm (AB) effect, where electrons are affected by a magnetic field, despite not passing through it. Although predicted in 1959, it took more than two decades to confirm this effect experimentally, as the specific changes to the electrons' wave properties could only be inferred indirectly, and with great difficulty. Now, physicists from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), in collaboration with the University of Oslo and Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, have used a classical fluid analog that mimics and extends the AB effect using a simple platform: a water tank.

Researchers in the UC Santa Barbara Materials Department have uncovered the elusive quantum mechanism by which energetic electrons break chemical bonds inside microelectronic devices—a detrimental process that slowly degrades performance over time. The discovery, published as an Editors' Suggestion in Physical Review B, explains decades-old experimental puzzles and moves scientists closer to engineering more reliable devices.

Researchers have shown that blending quantum computing with AI can dramatically improve predictions of complex, chaotic systems. By letting a quantum computer identify hidden patterns in data, the AI becomes more accurate and stable over time. The method outperformed standard models while using far less memory. This could have big implications for fields like climate science, energy, and medicine.

A new study published in Nature Communications has shown that in the asymptotic limit, extracting the maximum possible work from many copies of a quantum system does not require knowing exactly what state that system is in.

A joint research team led by Professor Park Kyoung-Duck and Associate Director Suh Yung Doug of the Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) has succeeded in realizing a high-efficiency quantum light source that emits bright lights even at room temperature. The study is published in the journal Science Advances.

Author(s): Philip BallA South Pole neutrino experiment has measured radio waves induced by cosmic rays—thus demonstrating that its detection method works. [Physics 19, 58] Published Fri Apr 17, 2026

An AI model informed by calculations from a quantum computer can better predict the behavior of a complex physical system over the long term than current best models that use only conventional computers, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, could improve models predicting how liquids and gases move and interact (fluid dynamics), used in areas ranging from climate science to transport, medicine and energy generation.

Some quantum cryptographers want to find ways to keep messages secret even if the rules of quantum mechanics don’t hold. The recently rediscovered idea of quantum jamming complicates things. The post Quantum ‘Jamming’ Explores the Truly Fundamental Principles of Nature first appeared on Quanta Magazine

Scientists have achieved a world first by loading a complete genome onto a quantum computer – a major

Even on a campus like the University of Washington’s — home to particle accelerators, wave tanks and countless

Author(s): Ryan WilkinsonA tunable quantum device can model the energy profiles of chemical reactions and improve physicists’ understanding of reaction dynamics. [Physics 19, s48] Published Thu Apr 16, 2026

Author(s): Sophia ChenResearchers exploit quantum entanglement to measure the interference of light signals from two distant detectors, opening a path toward quantum-enhanced astronomy. [Physics 19, 56] Published Thu Apr 16, 2026

A new Bar-Ilan University study points to a major advance in quantum information processing, demonstrating a way to send, manipulate, and measure quantum information across many frequency channels simultaneously, rather than one at a time. The study was recently published in the journal Science Advances.

NPL, the UK's National Metrology Institute (NMI), plays a central role in providing accurate and trusted measurement across emerging technology. Within its Institute for Quantum Standards and Technology (IQST), the team is developing methods to characterize and calibrate quantum devices, particularly quantum computing.

Thin films might not come up in conversation every day, but they are all around us. Take the metallic plastic films of chip bags, for example, or the anti-reflective coatings on eyeglasses. Even the coatings on pills that make them easier to swallow are thin films. Depositing extremely thin layers of materials in a consistent and uniform way is also crucial to the production of semiconductors, which are the foundation of modern electronics.

A neglected force produced by neutrinos and other particles helps atomic physics measurements align with predictions of the standard model.