Category archives: Quantum physics

A Topological Phonon Database has been built

A Topological Phonon Database has been built

Condensed matterDIPC Advanced materialsQuantum physics

By DIPC

The discovery of materials with topologically nontrivial electronic bands has led to high-throughput computational efforts that uncovered such bands in most known inorganic crystalline materials. Thus, in 2017, a team of researchers presented what they called Topological Quantum Chemistry (TQC), a new and complete understanding of the structure of bands in a material that links […]

Parity-time symmetry for faster and stronger optical signal processing

Parity-time symmetry for faster and stronger optical signal processing

Condensed matterQuantum physics

By César Tomé

In the era of big data, signal processing faces significant challenges in terms of capacity and energy consumption due to the torrent of data to process. With over 90% of data transmitted through light, optical signal processing may offer unprecedented speed and energy efficiency compared to its electronic counterparts, as it operates without the need […]

Quantum entanglement among quarks

Quantum entanglement among quarks

Computer scienceParticle physicsQuantum physics

By César Tomé

Collisions of high energy particles produce “jets” – quarks, antiquarks, or gluons moving through the quantum vacuum. Due to the confinement property of strong interactions, quarks are never directly detected but instead fragment into many secondary particles. Scientists have long expected that as jets propagate through the confining quantum vacuum, they will modify that vacuum […]

Ultrasensitive molecular sensing with surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA)

Ultrasensitive molecular sensing with surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA)

Condensed matterMaterialsNanotechnologyQuantum physics

By César Tomé

Sensors are essential tools for detecting and analysing trace molecules in a variety of fields, including environmental monitoring, food safety, and public health. However, developing sensors with high enough sensitivity to detect these tiny amounts of molecules remains a challenge. One promising approach is surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA), which uses plasmonic nanostructures to amplify the […]

Counting single proteins with a superconducting nanowire 

Counting single proteins with a superconducting nanowire 

NanotechnologyQuantum physics

By César Tomé

The detection, identification, and analysis of macromolecules is needed in many areas of life sciences, including protein research, diagnostics, and analytics. Mass spectrometry is often used as a detection system for proteins – a method that typically separates charged particles (ions) according to their mass-to-charge-ratio and measures the intensity of the signals generated by a […]

Purple bronze, from insulator to superconductor and back

Purple bronze, from insulator to superconductor and back

Condensed matterQuantum physics

By César Tomé

Purple bronze Scientists have discovered a rare phenomenon that could hold the key to creating a ‘perfect switch’ in quantum devices which flips between being an insulator and superconductor. The research found these two opposing electronic states exist within lithium molybdenum purple bronze, a unique one-dimensional metal composed of individual conducting chains of atoms. Tiny […]

Validity of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism for Ising domains

Validity of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism for Ising domains

DIPC Quantum SystemsPhysicsQuantum physics

By DIPC

Phase transitions and their related phenomena lie at the core of modern statistical mechanics and condensed matter physics. At equilibrium, an intriguing aspect of second-order phase transitions is that systems with distinct order parameters can be described by the same set of static critical exponents, a hallmark of universality. Thomas Kibble’s research on phase transitions […]

NOF approximations applied to iron(II) porphyrin

NOF approximations applied to iron(II) porphyrin

DIPC Computational and Theoretical ChemistryQuantum physics

By DIPC

As early as the 1970s, it was suggested that one-particle reduced density matrix functional theory could be an attractive alternative formalism to wave function-based methods. Unfortunately, calculations based on exact functionals generated by the constrained-search formulation are computationally too expensive, which has prompted the development of approximate functionals for practical applications. The functionals currently in […]

A topological amorphous alloy

A topological amorphous alloy

MaterialsPhysicsQuantum physics

By César Tomé

amorphous Scientists have dedicated their efforts to studying topological materials, focusing on the shape, or topology, of their electronic structures. These materials exhibit unique properties that have the potential to be harnessed for next-generation devices, despite their invisible nature in real space. Initially, it was believed that only crystalline materials, characterized by highly ordered atoms […]

Tunneling electrons excite a superconducting pair-breaking transition in the presence of magnetic impurities

Tunneling electrons excite a superconducting pair-breaking transition in the presence of magnetic impurities

Condensed matterDIPC Advanced materialsMaterialsQuantum physics

By DIPC

The development of superconducting devices was greatly stimulated after the acceptance of the basic theory of superconductivity proposed in 1957 by John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and Robert Schrieffer – BCS theory. The basic idea is that the electron waves in the superconducting state no longer act independently, as in Bloch’s model. Instead, they are paired […]