Research News

JQI Fellow Kartik Srinivasan and his colleagues have introduced an innovative method for improving single-photon collection—an essential step in advancing secure communications, high-precision imaging and quantum computing. By integrating new fabrication techniques, the research teams demonstrated a scalable and highly adaptable approach to guiding single photons efficiently into optical fibers.

A $2.5 million supplemental NSF award will jumpstart several new research thrusts in RQS and an undergraduate research program.

JQI researchers identified a set of promising ingredients for making time crystals. With those ingredients in mind, they developed a new theoretical framework that they hope will put time crystals research on an equal footing with the study of traditional phases of matter.

RQS senior investigator Ian Spielman, working with two postdocs, has introduced a tool for measuring velocities in a Bose-Einstein superfluid and applied it to studying superfluid turbulence.

A new experiment let JQI researchers get an unprecedented look at the currents hiding in a superfluid. The technique they developed allows them to measure the fluid velocity at specific locations in a superfluid, opening new opportunities to investigate the dynamics of superfluids, including how they experience turbulence.

In a physics first, researchers have created beams of neutrons that travel in curves. The team created these Airy beams (named for English scientist George Airy) using a custom-built device. The beams could enhance neutrons’ ability to reveal useful information about materials ranging from pharmaceuticals to perfumes to pesticides—in part because the beams can bend around obstacles.

Zohreh Davoudi, Nicole Yunger Halpern, and Chris Jarzynski are collaborating to blend three disparate fields of physics—the study of elementary particles and their interactions, the understanding of temperature and heat in quantum mechanics, and quantum simulation—to create a novel approach to understanding and modeling the physics of the early universe and high-energy collisions.

Nicole Yunger Halpern teamed up with an artist to create a sculpture that brings quantum concepts to life.

Lasers helped UMD researchers hone their aim in a microscopic game of darts played to recover gold nanoparticles from levitation experiments.

RQS senior investigator Nicole Yunger Halpern is collaborating with English lecturer Edward Daschle to co-teach a course that combines quantum energy and science fiction.