Physics

Oct 23rd, 2025 - Reading time: Reading time 2 minutes For various, typically historical reasons, even the best physicists claim things that sound egregious to modern observers. That doesn't necessarily mean these ideas are completely useless—if anything, theories once dismissed might just be what scientists need to break a stalemate in existential physics. Writing for Physical Review Letters , a team of Japanese physicists does exactly that, offering a new interpretation of an 1867 theory describing atoms ... [Read More]

Oct 22nd, 2025 - Scientists turn sugar crystals into sensitive detectors to hunt elusive dark matter Dark matter remains one of the most mysterious substances in the universe. We can't see it, but we know it's out there, influencing the motion of galaxies and stars. Yet, despite decades of searching, scientists have found little evidence of dark matter particles . Now, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, Germany, are trying a different and more unconventional route. They've turned to ... [Read More]

Oct 22nd, 2025 - The nature of gravity — and whether it can be reconciled with quantum mechanics — is one of the biggest mysteries in physics. Most researchers think that at a fundamental level, all phenomena follow the principles of quantum physics, but those principles do not seem to be compatible with the accepted theory of gravity. For years, researchers have been proposing experiments to show whether gravity could produce a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. Now, two theoretical ... [Read More]

Oct 21st, 2025 - Theoretical physicist who won the Nobel prize for his work on the forces acting on fundamental subatomic particles Chen-Ning Yang, the Chinese American theoretical physicist, who has died aged 103, won the Nobel prize in physics in 1957. It was during a period at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey, in 1950 that Yang (also known as CN Yang, or Frank Yang) befriended another young Chinese émigré, Tsung-Dao Lee . They shared the Nobel prize for work that ... [Read More]

Oct 20th, 2025 - , Phys.org Metasurfaces are two-dimensional (2D), nanoengineered surfaces that interact strongly with electromagnetic waves and can control light with remarkable precision. These ultra-thin layers can be used to develop a wide range of advanced technologies, including optical photonic, sensing and communication systems. Active metasurfaces, whose electromagnetic response can be dynamically tuned in real-time , are particularly promising for advanced real-world applications, particularly for the ... [Read More]

Oct 20th, 2025 - In the right combinations and conditions, two-dimensional materials can host intriguing and potentially valuable quantum phases, like superconductivity and unique forms of magnetism. Why they occur, and how they can be controlled, is of considerable interest among physicists and engineers. Research published in reveals a previously hidden feature that could explain how and why enigmatic quantum phases emerge. Using a new terahertz (THz) spectroscopic technique, the researchers revealed that ... [Read More]

Oct 11th, 2025 - , Phys.org Quantum networks, systems consisting of connected quantum computers, quantum sensors or other quantum devices, hold the potential of enabling faster and safer communications. The establishment of these networks relies on a quantum phenomenon known as entanglement, which entails a link between particles or systems, with the quantum state of one influencing the other even when they are far apart. The atom-based qubits used to establish quantum networks so far operate at visible or ... [Read More]

Oct 10th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google Quantum computing is full of ideas that sound great until you try to build them. A new experiment now shows a way to move quantum data to exactly where it is needed. It reports 95.3 % success on that routing task in the lab, which is strong enough to take notice. Instead of treating memory as an afterthought, the team built a router that can direct a quantum signal based on a quantum address. That ability is central to designs for quantum random access memory ( QRAM ). It ... [Read More]

Oct 10th, 2025 - A research team led by Prof. Lin Yiheng from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), collaborating with Prof. Yuan Haidong from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, succeeded in generating multipartite quantum entangled states across two, three, and five modes using controlled dissipation as a resource. Their study is in Science Advances . Multimode entanglement is a key resource in quantum computation, communication, simulation, and sensing. One of the major challenges in ... [Read More]

Oct 8th, 2025 - Reseachers uses quantum simulations to vizualize the shape of a photon emitted by a single nanoparticle -- in this case, it's lemon-shaped. When we look at the world around us, all that we see is thanks to light. It reflects, refracts, and interacts, carrying shape and depth from the objects it touches. But what about light itself? Physicists have now visualized the simulated shape of a photon (the smallest unit of light) emitted from the surface of a nanoparticle using a novel theoretical ... [Read More]

Oct 3rd, 2025 - Engineers have developed a new coating technique that will help make quantum light sources more precise and consistent. The team used an organic molecule called PTCDA to coat a semiconductor and caused it to release single photons at a time. Each photon also had identical energies, which is required if quantum technologies are to function. The researchers hope these reliable semiconductors will improve the performance of quantum computers. "The big idea is that we want to go from individual ... [Read More]

Oct 3rd, 2025 - By Florian Neukart, Leiden University Share What if the universe remembers? A bold new framework proposes that spacetime acts as a quantum memory. For over a hundred years, physics has rested on two foundational theories. Einstein's general relativity describes gravity as the curvature of space and time, while quantum mechanics governs the behavior of particles and fields. Each theory is highly successful within its own domain, yet combining them leads to contradictions, particularly in ... [Read More]

Oct 2nd, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google A single particle of light can behave in surprising ways, but it still follows the strict rules of physics. A new experiment shows that even when one photon is split into two, the total angular momentum remains exactly the same. The work tested conservation at the smallest possible scale and did not cut corners. Lead author Lea Kopf of Tampere University , and colleagues built a setup sensitive enough to catch only a few successful events out of billions. Split photons ... [Read More]

Oct 1st, 2025 - A laser-controlled array of atoms may hold the key to scalable quantum computing In a Caltech lab, a computer screen showed thousands of tiny points of light—each one a single atom, held in place by laser beams. This striking image revealed 6,100 stable quantum bits, or qubits. It's the largest neutral-atom array ever created and a key achievement for quantum computing. The previous record for a neutral atom array was just 1,180 qubits. "This is an exciting moment for neutral-atom quantum ... [Read More]

Sep 30th, 2025 - By Light Publishing Center Share A research team has discovered how to finely control Dirac plasmon polaritons in topological insulator metamaterials , overcoming long-standing challenges in the terahertz range. In today's world of advanced nanotechnology, the ability to control light at extremely small scales is essential for breakthroughs in faster data transfer, ultra-sensitive detection systems, and next-generation imaging technologies. At the heart of this frontier are Dirac plasmon ... [Read More]

Sep 29th, 2025 - , Phys.org Time-varying systems, materials with properties that change over time, have opened new possibilities for the experimental manipulation of waves. Contrarily to static systems, which exhibit the same properties over time, these materials break so-called temporal translation symmetry. This in turn prompts the emergence of various fascinating phenomena, including time reflection, refraction and diffraction. Most time-varying materials studies so far are optical systems , or in other ... [Read More]