Global Energy Awards

In a groundbreaking experiment, physicists observed a classic liquid phenomenon capillary instability in a quantum gas for the first time. By cooling a mix of potassium and rubidium atoms near absolute zero, researchers created tiny self-bound droplets that behave like liquid despite remaining in a gas phase. When stretched, these quantum droplets split into smaller ones, mimicking how a stream of water breaks into droplets. Quantum Droplets and Capillary Instability Observed In the Quantum Mixtures Lab at the National Institute of Optics (CNR-INO), researchers from CNR, the University of Florence, and the European Laboratory for Non-linear Spectroscopy (LENS) observed a well-known fluid phenomenon, capillary instability, within an unusual medium: an ultradilute quantum gas. This discovery offers new insight into how matter behaves in extreme conditions and could lead to novel ways of manipulating quantum fluids. The study, published in Physical Review Letters, also included contri...

A long-standing puzzle in quantum physics has just been cracked: scientists have finally pinned down the exact scope of quantum entanglement in one of its most iconic experiments. This breakthrough not only deepens our understanding of quantum mechanics but could also supercharge the validation of quantum devices, shaping the future of quantum technologies from computing to sensing. Cracking a 40-Year Quantum Mystery In a new paper published in Nature Physics, Victor Barizien and Jean-Daniel Bancal of the Institute of Theoretical Physics (IPhT) have solved a 40-year-old open question about the reach of quantum entanglement. Quantum entanglement is a central feature of the so-called second quantum revolution , enabling technologies like quantum sensors and quantum computers. Yet, even in well-known experimental setups like Bell tests, highlighted by the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics, the exact role and limits of entanglement have remained unclear. This new theoretical work is the first ...

Researchers have developed a powerful new way to measure ultrashort, high-energy laser pulses in a single shot, solving long-standing challenges in capturing their complex profiles. This innovation is crucial as laser technology moves toward unprecedented energy levels and plasma-based optics. Breakthrough in Measuring Laser Pulses Researchers at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, have developed a new method to accurately measure ultrashort, ultrahigh-power laser pulses. Their findings were published in Optica, a leading open-access journal in the field of optics. What’s the breakthrough? Lasers are one of the most remarkable technologies of the modern age. They can produce pulses of light that last for incredibly short durations, among the shortest ever created by humans. Even more impressively, these brief flashes can carry immense amounts of energy, resulting in peak power levels that far exceed the total electrical power consumption of the entire world, by...

In a groundbreaking study, scientists at Brookhaven National Lab uncovered a new phase of matter dubbed “half ice, half fire” a bizarre mix of cold, orderly electron spins and hot, chaotic ones. This discovery flips the script on previously accepted limits in physics and could spark advances in quantum computing , magnetic refrigeration, and more. It stems from a decade-long journey through strange magnetic materials and offers a brand-new way to manipulate matter with ultrasharp precision. A New State of Matter Emerges Two physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a new phase of matter while exploring a model of a magnetic material . This newly identified phase is a unique arrangement of electron spins, the tiny magnetic moments of electrons that point either “up” or “down.” The phase features a mix of highly ordered (“cold”) and highly disordered (“hot”) spins. Because of this unusual combination, the researchers named it “half ice,...

Researchers have pulled off a quantum feat that defies traditional expectations they’ve created Schrödinger cat states not from ultra-cold ground states, but from warm, thermally excited ones. Using a superconducting qubit setup, the team demonstrated that quantum superpositions can exist even at higher temperatures, overturning the long-held belief that heat destroys quantum effects. This breakthrough not only validates Schrödinger’s original “hot cat” concept but also paves the way for more practical and accessible quantum technologies. Schrödinger’s Cat and Hot Quantum States Schrödinger cat states are a remarkable feature of quantum physics, where a quantum system can exist in two opposing states at once. The concept comes from Erwin Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment, in which a cat is imagined to be both alive and dead simultaneously. In real-world experiments, similar quantum superpositions have been observed not with actual cats, but in things like the positions of atoms ...

A new technique based on new physics offers strong, scalable control over quantum information, paving the way for more dependable quantum computing. In a significant breakthrough that could accelerate the progress of quantum technologies , researchers from the USC Viterbi Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the School of Advanced Computing have developed the first optical filter capable of isolating and preserving quantum entanglement, a key phenomenon central to quantum computing, communication, and sensing. This work, published in Science, paves the way for compact, high-performance entanglement systems that can be integrated into quantum photonic circuits, enhancing the reliability of quantum computing architectures and communication networks. The study was led by Professors Mercedeh Khajavikhan and Demetri Christodoulides, with Mahmoud A. Selim, a USC graduate student, as the first author. Quantum Entanglement Explained Quantum entanglement is a proces...

New experiments on thallium decay have helped determine the Sun formed over 10–20 million years, improving stellar nucleosynthesis models . Have you ever wondered how long it took our Sun to form in the stellar nursery where it was born? An international team of scientists has just brought us closer to the answer. They successfully measured a rare nuclear process, bound-state beta decay, in fully ionized thallium-205 (²⁰⁵Tl⁸¹⁺) ions at the Experimental Storage Ring (ESR) of GSI/FAIR in Germany. This breakthrough sheds new light on how the radioactive isotope lead-205 (²⁰⁵Pb) is formed in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and helps refine estimates of the Sun’s formation timeline. Their findings were published in Nature. Current estimates suggest the Sun took tens of millions of years to form from its parent molecular cloud. This timeline is inferred from the presence of long-lived radionuclides that were produced shortly before the Sun’s birth. These isotopes were created in AGB sta...