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Many studies on the properties of the recently discovered ferropnictide superconductors report seemingly contradictory results. A theoretical study suggests that these contradictions might be resolved by considering such materials as having a strongly magnetic ground state whose domain boundaries fluctuate, preventing their experimental detection.
Techniques for reconstructing an object’s microstructure from its diffraction pattern have substantially improved the future imaging potential of next-generation X-ray sources. Yet the same techniques can already be applied to conventional electron microscopes, to extend their resolution to below an ångström.
ARPES measurements of the ‘failed’ superconductor LBCO-1/8 suggest that its pseudogap phase consists of two distinct components. The result could be an important clue into the nature of this phase in the copper oxide superconductors.
The exploration of the Jaynes–Cummings Hamiltonian in a circuit-QED system—where an ‘artificial atom’ made of a superconducting circuit is strongly coupled to a microwave field—provides direct evidence for nonlinearities due to quantum mechanics on the level of single atoms and photons.
An experiment demonstrating the generation of subfemtosecond pulses of light through the interaction of laser light with a solid target underlines the potential of this approach to lead to a new generation of intense sources of attosecond pulses.
A general approach to simplifying quantum logic circuits—the ‘programs’ of quantum computers—is described and demonstrated on a platform based on photonic qubits.
Two independent experiments that demonstrate memories for single quantum excitations with storage times on the order of a millisecond—two orders of magnitude longer than reported so far—should help to bring practical long-distance quantum-communication networks a step closer.
Two independent experiments that demonstrate memories for single quantum excitations with storage times of the order of a millisecond—two orders of magnitude longer than reported so far—should help to bring practical long-distance quantum-communication networks a step closer.
The demonstration of an optical clock in which individual atoms are confined in a three-dimensional optical lattice moves us closer to the atomic clockmaker's dream: tens of thousands of isolated atoms that work in parallel.
The discovery of a new class of high-temperature superconductors based on iron tests the limits of current theoretical and computational tools for the understanding of strongly correlated systems.
An adapted scanning electron microscope allows the non-destructive measurement and manipulation of Bose–Einstein condensates. The single-atom sensitivity that this technique promises could soon become indispensable in the study of quantum degenerate atomic gases.
Entanglement is precious, allowing us to perform all kinds of quantum tricks. But it is easily buried under technical noise. Two experiments show how to distil the 'good parts' from a data stream and recover high-quality entanglement.
Polar diatomic molecules, consisting of potassium and rubidium, have been created with density and temperature close to the regime of quantum degeneracy.
Nerve cells have the ability to self-organize into strongly interacting networks, even when grown in a Petri dish. Controlling the geometry of such cell cultures might be all that is needed to set up neuronal computing devices.
An array of superconducting nanocircuits has been designed that provides built-in protection from environmental noises. Such ‘topologically protected’ qubits could lead the way to a scalable architecture for practical quantum computation.
