Physicists Create First Room-Temperature Quantum Material (phys.org) 28
alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: In a study published in Nature, LSU physicists have developed the first room-temperature quantum material capable of distinguishing and transporting different quantum states of light, overcoming one of the biggest challenges in quantum materials research. Led by Associate Professor of Physics Omar S. Magana-Loaiza, the work establishes a general design principle for engineering an entirely new class of quantum materials, opening new possibilities for quantum computing, secure communications, sensing technologies and advanced energy systems.
Like a polarizer? (Score:3)
Doesn't a simple polarizer do that to begin with.
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No, it is a myth that a simple polarizer is a "room-temperature quantum material" in the way physicists mean it.
While polarization filters are fantastic for demonstrating quantum mechanics conceptually, the way a standard polarizer works can be fully explained by classical wave mechanics. It is entirely described by Maxwell's equations from the 19th century.
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That's hardly relevant chatgpt, they boast about the selective transport direction, which a reflective polariser does just fine at room temperature for the polarisation quantum state.
Re:Like a polarizer? (Score:4, Insightful)
That's hardly relevant chatgpt, they boast about the selective transport direction, which a reflective polariser does just fine at room temperature for the polarisation quantum state.
Everything is a product of QM, but to truly demonstrate it at the macro level, you need something like entanglement than can't be explained by classical physics. The polarisation demo is in the same category as the classical double-slit experiment - it proves that light is a wave, not simply particles. While the polarising filters are used in high-school to demonstrate Bell's inequality, they also have a perfectly valid classical explanation. The first filter replaces the original wave with its component in the filter direction. This new weaker wave has a component in the direction perpendicular to the original wave.
I'm not judging you for not understanding QM. Nobody does :-) But try to understand classical waves and vector components before you tackle QM.
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That other parts of optical quantum computing are more intricate is irrelevant for the fact that selective transport based on quantum state at room temperature was already common before this.
Lets switch to a different example for a moment. A quarter wave plate might not be a "quantum material" either, but it flips polarisation just fine in optical quantum computing. The mythical "quantum material" is not a prerequisite for a quantum computing function.
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it proves that light is a wave, not simply particles.
It is only sometimes a wave.
If it likes to be a particle: it is a particle.
Hence the pardoxons.
It gets nasty if you do the same experiment with electrons, and realize: oops they are waves too. More precisely: behave like waves.
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To be more accurate, it is neither a particle nor a wave, even though we may find it useful in certain circumstances to think of it as one or the other.
A quantum object is its own thing, a "quanton" . right? But what is real? The wave function? The measurement?
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You can explain a lot of things, in isolation, with classical physics. That doesn't mean that's how it works. The GP's comment is insightful: WTF is a "quantum material" if it's not literally everything?
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The thing is, there is no general definition of "quantum material".
Every room is "room temperature" (Score:3, Funny)
LSU physicists have developed the first room-temperature quantum material
Could have done that anytime by simply chilling the room down to near 0K - or whatever the usual temp needs to be. :-)
Re:Every room is "room temperature" (Score:5, Insightful)
No idea why anybody modded that "insightful". Probably people with a mental temperature at "room temperature" as well.
In actual reality, "room temperature" is a non-scientific term for "around 20-25C". It serves, for example, for descriptions like "can be stored at room temperature".
"Created" but do not want to show us? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:"Created" but do not want to show us? (Score:4, Insightful)
Just a theory? I'm impressed theories can produce actual measured results and graphs demonstrating the hypothesis. Must be a hell of a theory. If you want we can create a quick AI picture to help restore your faith in science? We can even put multiple pictures in different cells and with little thought bubbles containing key snippets of text if reading a paper is ... "not your level."
Re: "Created" but do not want to show us? (Score:2)
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There is a suspicious absence of pictures of the "created" material in the publication. Seems like more of a theory to me, not anything real yet.
I think you give yourself away as a non-scientist. You need pictures. And you think "just a theory" is a put-down of a scientific theory. That word does not mean the same thing in lay discussions as it does in scientific ones.
Scientific theories are established conceptual models that work. They're not just "hunches." They are as real as the experiments and observations that back them up. No scientist calls something a theory without lots of that backup.
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The Nature paper has a great deal of theory (the scientific kind) but also reports experimental results. Is this not enough?
Apparently not for the OP.
The heading (Score:3)
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distinguishing and transporting different quantum states of light
So do polarized sunglasses.
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I'm surrounded by them now... (Score:2)
I like picking at headlines, but this is too easy.
Strangely enough ... (Score:2)
... it resembles a cat.
tldr; they created a light filter using gold. (Score:1)