Research News

A research team at MPQ has realised quantum gates using fermionic atoms with 99.75% accuracy and entangled states lasting over ten seconds – a record. The platform relies on atoms that obey the same quantum-mechanical rules as electrons in materials, enabling the direct study of fermionic systems. Published today in Nature, the results open up a new hybrid approach to materials research, quantum chemistry, and the study of complex quantum systems. more

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have carried out one of the most precise tests of the Standard Model of particle physics to date. Using high-resolution hydrogen spectroscopy, they confirmed its theoretical predictions to more than twelve decimal places. The measurement provides a precise value for the proton radius, resolving the long-debated 'proton radius puzzle'. The results were recently published in Nature.
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A research team led by Monika Aidelsburger at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) and the Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich (LMU) has identified a colour of light at which atoms become selectively “colourblind”: At this wavelength, the light has no effect on excited-state atoms, but strongly confines atoms in the ground state. The results, published in PRX Quantum, provide a powerful new tool for analogue quantum simulation and novel computing architectures. more

Physicists have uncovered a link between magnetism and the pseudogap, a mysterious phase of matter that appears in certain materials just above the temperature at which they become superconducting. The researchers discovered a universal pattern in how magnetic correlations evolve as the system cools. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), are the result of a collaboration between the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and the Simons Foundations’ Flatiron Institute. more

A team at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics has realised tunable long-range interactions between atoms. In their study, published in Science, the researchers increased the system’s lifetime by a factor of 100 and for the first time investigated Rydberg interactions in tunnel-coupled quantum systems. They observed an unusual binding mechanism between two atoms and its effect on the atomic arrangement in an optical lattice – a breakthrough for the control of quantum simulators.
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On the centennial of quantum mechanics, a group of physicists is challenging one of its central paradigms: wave-particle duality. At the heart of their work lies the famous double-slit experiment, long considered a key demonstration of the idea that quantum objects inherently possess both particle and wave characteristics. But according to a paper published in Physical Review Letters this year, this iconic experiment can be explained using only the particle picture... more

Researchers from MPQ and LMU have experimentally demonstrated a strongly interacting quantum phase – known as the Mott-Meissner phase. This phase emerges under the combined influence of strong interactions and an artificial magnetic field. The results mark a major breakthrough: Previous experimental studies of interacting particles in artificial magnetic fields had been limited to system sizes involving only two particles. more

Researchers at MPQ, in collaboration with the chemicals company Covestro, have developed a method for simulating chemical models using fermionic quantum simulators. The key advantage: The energetic states produced in the lab intrinsically mirror molecular behaviour. Mapping chemistry algorithms onto their fermionic quantum simulator marks a major step toward harnessing quantum computing for fundamental chemistry. more