/ en-us Â鶹ÒùÔº internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Â鶹ÒùÔºics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Skyrmions are localized, particle-like excitations in materials that retain their structure due to topological constraints (i.e., restrictions arising from properties that remain unchanged under smooth deformations). These quasiparticles, first introduced in high-energy physics and quantum field theory, have since attracted intense interest in condensed matter physics and photonics, owing to their potential as robust carriers for information storage and manipulation. /news/2025-08-experimental-quantum-optical-skyrmions-semiconductor.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 13 Aug 2025 08:30:01 EDT news674226132 A photonics research group co-led by Gregor Weihs of the University of Innsbruck has developed a new technique for generating multi-photon states from quantum dots that overcomes the limitations of conventional approaches. This has immediate applications in secure quantum key distribution protocols, where it can enable simultaneous secure communication with different parties. /news/2025-08-quantum-dot-technique-multi-photon.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 11 Aug 2025 16:22:03 EDT news674148121 Infrared imaging helps us see things the human eye cannot. The technology—which can make visible body heat, gas leaks or water content, even through smoke or darkness—is used in military surveillance, search and rescue missions, health care applications and even in autonomous vehicles. /news/2025-08-silver-nanowire-web-transparent-electrode.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 01 Aug 2025 09:40:04 EDT news673260002 Quantum confinement is a physical effect that occurs when the size of a material—usually a semiconductor or conductor—is reduced to the nanoscale, thereby restricting the movement of electrons or holes. /news/2025-07-quantum-confinement-physical-downsizing.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Wed, 23 Jul 2025 11:00:09 EDT news672420002 Lasers that are fabricated directly onto silicon photonic chips offer several advantages over external laser sources, such as greater scalability. Furthermore, photonic chips with these "monolithically" integrated lasers can be commercially viable if they can be manufactured in standard semiconductor foundries. /news/2025-07-efficient-quantum-dot-lasers-silicon.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:20:04 EDT news672050613 A Rutgers-led team of scientists has developed an eco-friendly, very stable, ultra-bright material and used it to generate deep-blue light (emission at ~450 nm) in a light-emitting diode (LED), an energy-efficient device at the heart of all major lighting systems. /news/2025-07-ultra-bright-deep-blue-eco.html Materials Science Wed, 16 Jul 2025 11:00:35 EDT news671865478 Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) School of Engineering have cracked a major challenge in display technology by inventing the world's brightest and most energy efficient quantum rod LEDs (QRLEDs). These next-generation QRLEDs feature optimized deep green emission at the top of the color triangle, enabling displays with unprecedented color purity and a maximized color gamut. /news/2025-07-gen-rod-smartphones-tvs-ultra.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 15 Jul 2025 08:25:56 EDT news671786743 Excitons—bound pairs of electrons and an electron hole—are quasiparticles that can arise in solids. While so-called "bright" excitons emit light and are therefore accessible, dark excitons are optically inactive. As a result, they have a significantly longer lifetime—which makes them ideal for storing and controlling quantum states and using them for advanced methods to generate entanglement. /news/2025-07-photon-dark-method-full-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 09 Jul 2025 14:00:01 EDT news671261441 Quantum computers have the potential to revolutionize computing by solving complex problems that stump even today's fastest machines. Scientists are exploring whether quantum computers could one day help streamline global supply chains, create ultra-secure encryption to protect sensitive data against even the most powerful cyberattacks, or even develop more effective drugs by simulating their behavior at the atomic level. /news/2025-07-efficient-route-quantum.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 09 Jul 2025 10:40:04 EDT news671276401 Chemists at the School of Science of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have recently made significant progress in photocatalysis by unveiling a "super" photoreductant, marking a major advancement in organic synthesis. /news/2025-07-quantum-dot-photoreductant-energy-reactions.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:29:40 EDT news670775375 In blinding bright light or pitch-black dark, our eyes can adjust to extreme lighting conditions within a few minutes. The human vision system, including the eyes, neurons, and brain, can also learn and memorize settings to adapt faster the next time we encounter similar lighting challenges. /news/2025-06-robotic-eyes-mimic-human-vision.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 01 Jul 2025 11:00:01 EDT news670491110 A research team has identified the synthesis principle of eco-friendly ternary quantum dots that are harmless to the human body. Using this technology, they have developed a high-efficiency, photovoltaic-based hydrogen production technology. /news/2025-06-real-ray-analysis-reveals-eco.html Nanomaterials Mon, 23 Jun 2025 12:52:03 EDT news669901921 Quantum key distribution (QKD), a cryptographic technique rooted in quantum physics principles, has shown significant potential for enhancing the security of communications. This technique enables the transmission of encryption keys using quantum states of photons or other particles, which cannot be copied or measured without altering them, making it significantly harder for malicious parties to intercept conversations between two parties while avoiding detection. /news/2025-06-true-photon-source-boosts-key.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 20 Jun 2025 06:30:01 EDT news669547125 Quantum dots are microscopic semiconductor crystals developed in the lab that share many properties with atoms, including the ability to absorb or emit light, a technology that Los Alamos researchers have spent nearly three decades evolving. Through carrier multiplication, in which a single absorbed photon generates two electron-hole pairs, called excitons, quantum dots have the unique ability to convert photons more efficiently to energy. /news/2025-06-ultrafast-exchange-quantum-dots-solar.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 12 Jun 2025 11:07:03 EDT news668945221 Putting hypersensitive quantum sensors in a living cell is a promising path for tracking cell growth and diagnosing diseases—even cancers—in their early stages. /news/2025-05-diamond-nanoparticles-quantum-shell-tv.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Sat, 24 May 2025 04:18:22 EDT news667279094 Researchers at the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology recently connected their campuses with an experimental quantum communications network using two optical fibers. In a new paper published in Optica Quantum, scientists describe the Rochester Quantum Network (RoQNET), which uses single photons to transmit information about 11 miles along fiber-optic lines at room temperature using optical wavelengths. /news/2025-05-photon-technology-powers-mile-quantum.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 06 May 2025 11:39:03 EDT news665750341 Researchers at QuTech in Delft have combined superconductors and quantum dots to observe and manipulate so-called Majorana bound states, which have properties that could enable stable quantum computation. By building a chain of three coupled quantum dots in a two-dimensional electron gas, they were able to demonstrate properties of Majoranas that are essential for the study of Majorana-based quantum bits. /news/2025-05-majoranas-superconductor-quantum-dot-combo.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Fri, 02 May 2025 12:03:16 EDT news665406184 A research team at Tohoku University's Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR) has developed a new technique to rapidly and accurately determine the charge state of electrons confined in semiconductor quantum dots—fundamental components of quantum computing systems. The method is based on Bayesian inference, a statistical framework that estimates the most likely state of a system using observed data. /news/2025-05-bayesian-inference-enables-rapid-quantum.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Thu, 01 May 2025 09:52:03 EDT news665311921 The ability to control the color, or emission wavelength, of light from quantum sources is central to the development of secure quantum communication networks and photonic-based computing. However, most systems capable of tuning quantum light require extreme conditions, for example, high voltages, strong magnetic fields, and even cryogenic environments. /news/2025-04-quantum-room-temperature-tunable-nanostructures.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:15:04 EDT news662728501 Newly achieved precise control over light emitted from incredibly tiny sources, a few nanometers in size, embedded in two-dimensional (2D) materials could lead to remarkably high-resolution monitors and advances in ultra-fast quantum computing, according to an international team led by researchers at Penn State and Université Paris-Saclay. /news/2025-03-nanodot-fine-tune-sharper-displays.html Nanophysics Nanomaterials Fri, 07 Mar 2025 09:45:01 EST news660563087 Quantum light sources are fickle. They can flicker like stars in the night sky and can fade out like a dying flashlight. However, newly published research from the University of Oklahoma proves that adding a covering to one of these light sources, called a colloidal quantum dot, can cause them to shine without faltering, opening the door to new, affordable quantum possibilities. The findings are available in Nature Communications. /news/2025-02-scientists-reveal-key-room-temperature.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 24 Feb 2025 15:39:03 EST news659633941 Quantum computers, which operate leveraging quantum mechanics phenomena, could eventually tackle some optimization and computational problems faster and more efficiently than their classical counterparts. Instead of bits, the fundamental units of information in classical computers, quantum computers rely on qubits (quantum bits), which can be in multiple states at once. /news/2025-02-newly-nuclear-dark-state-quantum.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 20 Feb 2025 07:40:01 EST news659197879 Researchers at North Carolina State University have demonstrated a new technique that uses light to tune the optical properties of quantum dots—making the process faster, more energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable—without compromising material quality. /news/2025-02-powered-breakthrough-enables-precision-tuning.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 18 Feb 2025 14:52:42 EST news659112756 A research team from the University of Science and Technology of China has demonstrated the ability to electrically manipulate the spin filling sequence in a bilayer graphene (BLG) quantum dot (QD). This achievement, published in Â鶹ÒùÔºical Review Letters, showcases the potential to control the spin degree of freedom in BLG, a material with promising applications in quantum computing and advanced electronics. /news/2025-02-scientists-electrical-sequence-bilayer-graphene.html Condensed Matter Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:50:03 EST news658669802 Quantum computers have the potential to revolutionize technology by solving complex calculations and computations that are difficult, if not impossible, for traditional computers. One major roadblock, however, is instability—quantum states can be easily disrupted by "noise" from their surrounding environments, causing errors in the systems. Overcoming instability is important in creating effective and reliable quantum computers and other quantum technologies. /news/2025-02-scientists-nuclear-dark-state.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:38:04 EST news658600681 In an advance for quantum technologies, researchers at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, have created a functional quantum register using the atoms inside a semiconductor quantum dot. /news/2025-01-scientists-register-thousands-entangled-nuclei.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Wed, 29 Jan 2025 09:09:05 EST news657364141 Quantum computers have the potential of outperforming classical computers on some optimization tasks. Yet scaling up quantum computers leveraging existing fabrication processes while also maintaining good performances and energy-efficiencies has so far proved challenging, which in turn limits their widespread adoption. /news/2025-01-silicon-quantum-dots-chip-electronics.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Thu, 23 Jan 2025 08:00:01 EST news656779513 Quantum computing holds the promise of outperforming classical computing on some optimization and data processing tasks. The creation of highly performing large-scale quantum computers, however, relies on the ability to support controlled interactions between qubits, which are the units of information in quantum computing, at a range of distances. /news/2025-01-domain-oscillations-distant-semiconductor-qubits.html Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Tue, 07 Jan 2025 09:34:00 EST news655464833 Researchers have developed a tiny, room-temperature device that creates a special type of structured light called radially polarized photons, which are highly useful for secure communication, advanced imaging, and precision optical tools. /news/2024-12-room-temperature-nanodevice-generates-communication.html Optics & Photonics Tue, 10 Dec 2024 09:35:11 EST news653045699 A team of researchers from the University of Cologne, Hasselt University (Belgium) and the University of St Andrews (Scotland) has succeeded in using the quantum mechanical principle of strong light-matter coupling for an optical technology that overcomes the long-standing problem of angular dependence in optical systems. /news/2024-12-quantum-mechanical-principle-strong-coupling.html Optics & Photonics Quantum Â鶹ÒùÔºics Mon, 09 Dec 2024 11:50:09 EST news652967402