news

Chemists investigate the interactions of metal complexes and light Metal complexes show a fascinating behavior in their interactions with light, which for example is utilized in organic light emitting diodes, solar cells, quantum computers, or even in cancer therapy. In many of these applications, the electron spin, a kind of inherent rotation of the electrons, plays an important role.

Is it possible to borrow energy from an empty space? And if yes, do we have to give it back? Energy values smaller than zero are allowed - at least within certain limits. Energy is a quantity that must always be positive - at least that's what our intuition tells us. If every single particle is removed from a certain volume until there is nothing left that could possibly carry energy, then a limit has been reached.

A new measurement protocol, developed at TU Wien (Vienna), makes it possible to measure the quantum phase of electrons - an important step for attosecond physics. It is like a microscope for time: Today's methods of attosecond physic allows us to measure extremely short time intervals. With the help of short laser pulses, physical processes can be investigated on a time scale of attoseconds - that is billionths of a billionth of a second.

The quantum superposition principle has been tested on a scale as never before in a new study by scientists at the University of Vienna in collaboration with the University of Basel. Hot, complex molecules composed of nearly two thousand atoms were brought into a quantum superposition and made to interfere.

Scientists use deep neural networks to achieve simulations on long time scales The prediction of molecular reactions triggered by light is to date extremely time-consuming and therefore costly. A team led by Philipp Marquetand from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Vienna has now presented a method using artificial neural networks that drastically accelerates the simulation of light-induced processes.

The interplay of quantum mechanics and special relativity requires a new alphabet to send reliable quantum messages Quantum information relies on the possibility of writing messages in a quantum particle and reading them out in a reliable way. If, however, the particle is relativistic, meaning that it moves with velocities close to the speed of light, it is impossible for standard techniques to unambiguously decode the message and the communication fails.

For the first time, a team led by Innsbruck physicist Ben Lanyon has sent a light particle entangled with matter over 50 km of optical fiber. This paves the way for the practical use of quantum networks and sets a milestone for a future quantum internet. The quantum internet promises absolutely tap-proof communication and powerful distributed sensor networks for new science and technology.

The theories of quantum mechanics and gravity are notorious for being incompatible, despite the efforts of scores of physicists over the past fifty years. However, recently an international team of researchers led by physicists from the University of Vienna, the Austrian Academy of Sciences as well as the University of Queensland (AUS) and the Stevens Institute of Technology (USA) have combined the key elements of the two theories describing the flow of time and discovered that temporal order between events can exhibit genuine quantum features.

Austrian and Chinese scientists have succeeded in teleporting three-dimensional quantum states for the first time. High-dimensional teleportation could play an important role in future quantum computers. Researchers from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Vienna have experimentally demonstrated what was previously only a theoretical possibility.

Innovative new electron spectroscopy technique pushes the limits of Nanospectroscopy for materials design In order to understand advanced materials like graphene nanostructures and optimize them for devices in nano-, optoand quantum-technology it is crucial to understand how phonons - the vibration of atoms in solids - influence the materials' properties.

Ultradense arrays of magnetic quanta in high-temperature superconductors The properties of high-temperature superconductors can be tailored by the introduction of artificial defects. An international research team around physicist Wolfgang Lang at the University of Vienna has succeeded in producing the world's densest complex nano arrays for anchoring flux quanta, the fluxons.

By Susanne Eigner An international team involving researchers from TU Graz has published research into a new solid-state electrolyte for batteries. The material exhibits one of the fastest lithium mobility processes ever measured in a lithium-ion conductor. Solid-state batteries are currently the most promising technology helping to pave the way for the breakthrough of electric mobility.

Researchers try a trick for complete 3D analysis of submicron crystals The 3D analysis of crystal structures requires a full 3D view of the crystals. Crystals as small as powder, with edges less than one micrometer, can only be analysed with electron radiation. With electron crystallography, a full 360-degree view of a single crystal is technically impossible.

In standard communication the pigeon always carries the message; the information is linked to a physical entity/particle. Counter to intuition, in a new counterfactual communication protocol published in NPJ Quantum Information, scientists from the University of Vienna, the University of Cambridge and the MIT have experimentally demonstrated that in quantum mechanics this is not always true, thereby contradicting a crucial premise of communication theory.

Physicists at the University of Innsbruck are proposing a new model that could demonstrate the supremacy of quantum computers over classical supercomputers in solving optimization problems. In a recent paper, they demonstrate that just a few quantum particles would be sufficient to solve the mathematically difficult N-queens problem in chess even for large chess boards.

Metallophilic microorganisms could benefit from the heavy metal in harsh survival conditions A boiling point of 5900 degrees Celsius and diamond-like hardness in combination with carbon: tungsten is the heaviest metal, yet has biological functions - especially in heat-loving microorganisms. A team led by Tetyana Milojevic from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Vienna report for the first time rare microbial-tungsten interactions at the nanometer range.

Researchers of the Academy explore the consequences of locality for measurements distributed in spacetime. Their article has now been published in the Nature journal "Quantum Information". Locality is a fundamental principle behind all physical interactions. It says that each physical system can only interact with other systems in its immediate vicinity, so that interactions between two distant objects must be mediated by an intermediary.

By Christoph Pelzl For the first time ever, physicists have been able to change the magnetic moment of a material using a light wave within one femtosecond - the fastest magnetic event ever observed. Additional at the end of the text Electronic properties of materials can be directly influenced via light absorption in under a femtosecond (10 -15 seconds), which is regarded as the limit of the maximum achievable speed of electronic circuits.

Effective atomic interactions in complex materials picked up by on-the-fly machine-learning At the atomic scale materials can show a rich palette of dynamic behaviour, which directly affects the physical properties of these materials. For many years, it has been a dream to describe these dynamics in complex materials at various temperatures using computer simulations.

Physicists develop new method to prove quantum entanglement One of the essential features required for the realization of a quantum computer is quantum entanglement. A team of physicists from the University of Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) introduces a novel technique to detect entanglement even in large-scale quantum systems with unprecedented efficiency.