Light can excite electron and hole pairs inside semiconducting materials. If the attraction between a negatively charged electron and a positively charged hole (the antiparticle of electron in solid state physics) is strong, they stay bound together, forming states...
Non-perturbative interactions (i.e., interactions too strong to be described by so-called perturbation theory) between light and matter have been the topic of numerous research studies. Yet the role that quantum properties of light play in these interactions and the...
A long-standing challenge in the field of quantum physics is the efficient synchronization of individual and independently generated photons (i.e., light particles). Realizing this would have crucial implications for quantum information processing that relies on...
Polarized electrons are electrons in which spins have a "preferred" orientation or are preferentially oriented in a specific direction. The realization of these electrons has notable implications for physics research, as it can pave the way toward the creation of...
Identifying new sources that produce electrons faster could help to advance the many imaging techniques that rely on electrons. In a recent paper published in Physical Review Letters, a team of researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology demonstrated the...
A time crystal, as originally proposed in 2012, is a new state of matter in which the particles are in continuous oscillatory motion. Time crystals break time-translation symmetry. Discrete time crystals do so by oscillating under the influence of a periodic external...
When light strongly interacts with matter, it can produce unique quasi-particles called polaritons, which are half light and half matter. In recent decades, physicists explored the realization of polaritons in optical cavities and their value for the development of...
In recent years, many physicists worldwide have introduced atomic clocks, systems to measure the passing of time that are based on quantum states of atoms. These clocks can have numerous valuable applications, for instance in the development of satellite and...
Researchers at University of Tokyo, JTS PRESTO, Ludwig Maximilians Universität and Kindai University recently demonstrated the modulation of an electron source by applying laser light to a single fullerene molecule. Their study, featured in Physical Review...
Quantum materials are materials with unique electronic, magnetic or optical properties, which are underpinned by the behavior of electrons at a quantum mechanical level. Studies have showed that interactions between these materials and strong laser fields can elicit...