So far, quantum computers have been one-of-a-kind devices that fill entire laboratories. Now, physicists at the University of Innsbruck have built a prototype of an ion trap quantum computer that can be used in industry. It fits into two 19-inch server racks like those found in data centers throughout the world. The compact, self-sustained device demonstrates how this technology will soon be more accessible.
Can you imagine one day using a telescope as thin as a sheet of paper, or a much smaller and lighter high-performance camera? Or no longer having that camera bump behind your smartphone? In a paper published in Nature Communications, researchers from the University of Ottawa have proposed a new optical element that could turn these ideas into reality by dramatically miniaturizing optical devices, potentially impacting many of the applications in our lives.
What is already established for inorganic semiconductors stays a challenge for their organic counterparts: Tuning the energy gap by blending different semiconducting molecules to optimize device performance. Now, scientists from TU Dresden, in cooperation with researchers at TU Munich, as well as University of Würzburg, HU Berlin, and Ulm University demonstrated how to reach this goal.
Sending photons encoded with quantum information through free-space for applications like quantum communication and imaging are currently limited to channels with direct line-of-sight and low-noise. Researchers at University of Waterloo, Canada, have demonstrated a technique to encode quantum information in photons that will survive scattering from diffuse objects, while recording an image. This research could open up new possibilities for non-line-of-sight quantum channels and broaden the application of quantum communications or imaging to scattered signals.