Research News

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

A research team at MPQ has confirmed surprising properties of thermalisation in two-dimensional quantum systems using a quantum simulator with neutral atoms. The study demonstrates how the initial state can significantly influence the thermodynamic behaviour of such systems—unlike in classical physics. The results were recently published in Nature and provide new insights into the behaviour of quantum systems out of equilibrium. more

For decades, quantum mechanics assumed all observable particles fall into two categories: fermions and bosons. Now, this dichotomous view of particles is being questioned. Researchers from MPQ and Rice University have investigated the intricacies of particle exchange statistics and shown that a third category, paraparticles, can exist under specific physical conditions. more

A team of researchers at MPQ has found first signs of stripe formation in a cold-atom Fermi Hubbard model. Using a quantum gas microscope and a special mixed-dimensional geometry, they were able to observe special properties associated with superconductivity - a huge advance in the fundamental understanding of this phase of matter and in the academic application of quantum simulators. more

The rare-earth element erbium could play a key role in future quantum networks: Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM), led by Andreas Reiserer, have succeeded in spectrally resolving and individually controlling up to 360 erbium ions in a thin crystal membrane — more than three times as many as before. Their findings were published in the scientific journal Advanced Optical Materials. more