A team of physicists at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, performed an experiment that seems to contradict the foundations of quantum theory – at first glance. The team led by Rainer Blatt reversed a quantum measurement in a prototype quantum information processor. The experiment is enabled by a technique that has been developed for quantum error correction in a future quantum computer.
This work represents the first step towards creating exotic mechanical quantum states. For example, the transfer makes it possible to create a state in which the resonator simultaneously vibrates and doesn’t vibrate, says Mika Sillanpää, professor at Aalto University, who runs the research group.
University of Utah engineers demonstrated it is feasible to build the first organic materials that conduct electricity on their edges, but act as an insulator inside. These materials, called organic topological insulators, could shuttle information at the speed of light in quantum computers and other high-speed electronic devices.
A paper in the prestigious journal Science coauthored by University of Pittsburgh physicist Sergey Frolov has garnered him and his colleagues the 2012 Newcomb Cleveland Prize, an annual honor awarded to the author or authors of the best research article or report appearing in Science, which is published weekly by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The prize carries with it a cash award of $25,000.
A proof-of-concept device that could pave the way for on-chip optical quantum networks has been created by a group of researchers from the US.
Not only do optical fibers transmit information every day around the world at the speed of light, but they can also be harnessed for the transport of quantum information. In the current issue of Nature Photonics, a research team of Innsbruck physicists led by Rainer Blatt and Tracy Northup report how they have directly transferred the quantum information stored in an atom onto a particle of light. Such information could then be sent over optical fiber to a distant atom.
An old material gets a new name, and with it, topological insulators have another chance to shine. Samarium hexaboride (SmB6) has been around since the late 1960s--but understanding its low temperature behavior has remained a mystery until recently. Experimentalists* have recently confirmed that this material is the first true 3D topological insulator—as originally predicted by JQI/CMTC☨ theorists in 2010.
Scientists from the University of Cambridge have created, for the first time, a new type of microchip which allows information to travel in three dimensions. Currently, microchips can only pass digital information in a very limited way – from either left to right or front to back. The research was published today, 31 January, in Nature.
Two CQT researchers have today been named recipients of Singapore's prestigious NRF Fellowship.
An international team of researchers has found a new method of producing molecular magnets. Their thin layer systems made of cobalt and an organic material could pave the way for more powerful storage media as well as faster and more energy-efficient processors for information processing. The results of this research have been published in the current issue of the renowned journal Nature (DOI: 10.1038/nature11719).