SBQMI researchers have found a new system that could help yield ‘warmer’ quantum technologies.

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In the latest issue of Physical Review Letters, chemical physicist Ed Grant and theoretical physicist John Sous describe the results of an experiment in which laser pulses gently lift a large number of molecules in a gas of nitric oxide to form an ultracold plasma. The plasma, consisting of electrons, ions and Rydberg molecules (NO+ ions orbited by a distant electron), self-assembles and appears to form a robust many-body localized state. The researchers believe the plasma ‘quenches’ to achieve this state naturally, without needing a web of laser fields – no more ripping apart.

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Just as importantly, the system doesn’t have to start at a temperature near absolute zero. The mechanism of self-assembly operates naturally at high temperature, seemingly leading to a spontaneous state of many-body localization. “This could give us a much easier way to make a quantum material, which is good news for practical applications,” says Grant. Read the full story…

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Particles quench in a disordered web of quantum interactions to form a state of many-body localization.

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