New opportunities for the design of ultra-sensitive sensors

09-Mar-2023

Researchers at ETH Zurich and TII Abu Dhabi, with the support of quantum optics theorists from Innsbruck, Austria, have succeeded in simultaneously cooling the motion of a tiny glass sphere in two dimensions to the quantum ground-state. This represents a crucial step towards a 3D ground-state ...

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Breakthrough after 15 years of research

03-Mar-2023

Quantum effects can play an important role in chemical reactions. Physicists led by Roland Wester of the University of Innsbruck, Austria, have now for the first time observed a quantum mechanical tunneling reaction in experiments. The observation can also be described exactly in theory. With the ...

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Promising material graphene

18-Aug-2022

Superconductors are the key to lossless current flow. However, the realization of superconducting diodes has only recently become an important topic of fundamental research. An international research team involving the theoretical physicist Mathias Scheurer from the University of Innsbruck have ...

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Using light, atoms can be made to attract each other

04-Aug-2022

A very special bonding state between atoms has been created in the laboratory for the first time: With a laser beam, atoms can be polarised so that they are positively charged on one side and negatively charged on the other. This makes them attract each other creating a very special bonding ...

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Self-interference method

01-Jul-2022

Sensing with levitated nanoparticles has so far been limited by the precision of position measurements. Now, researchers at the University of Innsbruck led by Tracy Northup, have demonstrated a new method for optical interferometry in which light scattered by a particle is reflected by a mirror. ...

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Quantum simulator provides insights into the dynamics of complex quantum systems

16-May-2022

A quantum system consisting of only 51 charged atoms can assume more than two quadrillion different states. Calculating the system's behavior is a piece of cake for a quantum simulator. Yet even with today's supercomputers it is almost impossible to verify the result. A research team from the ...

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In the search for novel types of superconductors scientists are investigating materials that consist of multiple layers

29-Apr-2022

A team led by theoretical physicist Mathias Scheurer from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, has studied in detail the properties of a system of three twisted graphene layers and gained important insights into its properties. Since the first successful fabrication of a two-dimensional ...

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New concept for a high-precision quantum sensor

08-Apr-2022

Sensors are a pillar of the Internet of Things, providing the data to control all sorts of objects. Here, precision is essential, and this is where quantum technologies could make a difference. Researchers in Innsbruck and Zurich are now demonstrating how nanoparticles in tiny optical resonators ...

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Better measurements with little extra effort

25-Mar-2022

Two teams of physicists led by Peter Zoller and Thomas Monz at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, have designed the first programmable quantum sensor, and tested it in the laboratory. To do so they applied techniques from quantum information processing to a measurement problem. The innovative ...

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A surprising phenomenon

04-Jan-2022

While working with helium nanodroplets, scientists at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, have come across a surprising phenomenon: When the ultracold droplets hit a hard surface, they behave like drops of water. Ions with which they were previously doped thus remain protected on impact and are ...

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