Author:Martijn

A new theoretical model could solve a 50-year-old puzzle on the entropy of black holes. Developed by physicists in the US, Belgium and Argentina, the model uses the concept of quantum-mechanical wormholes to count the number of quantum microstates within a black hole. The resulting counts agree with predictions made by the so-called Bekenstein-Hawking entropy formula and may lead to a deeper understanding of these extreme astrophysical objects.

Researchers at the Dutch quantum institute QuTech in Delft have announced plans to build Europe’s first 100-quantum bit (qubit) quantum computer. When complete in 2026, the device will be made publicly available, providing scientists with a tool for quantum calculations and simulations.

Twenty members of the European Parliament have called for urgent action to develop a new standard for data encryption that would protect against quantum computers being used for malicious purposes. In their letter, the members urge the European Commission to develop security measures and regulations to ward off the threat of quantum computers for cybercrime and data breaches.

Trapping ions with static magnetic and electric fields instead of an oscillating electromagnetic field could make it easier to use ions as building blocks for quantum computers. The new approach, which was developed by researchers at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, allows better control of an ion’s quantum state and position, and marks an important step towards scaling up trapped ions as a platform for quantum computation.

Quantum computers can solve problems that would be impossible for classical machines, but this ability comes with a caveat: if a quantum computer gives you an answer, how do you know it’s correct? This is particularly pressing if you do not have direct access to the quantum computer (as in cloud computing), or you don’t trust the person running it. You could, of course, verify the solution with your own quantum processor, but not everyone has one to hand.

De Europese Ruimtevaartorganisatie ESA heeft groen licht gegeven voor de lancering van de zwaartekrachtgolfdetector LISA: een uiterst complexe ruimtemissie met een flinke Nederlandse inbreng. LISA moet nieuwe kennis op gaan leveren over onder andere zwarte gaten, de oerknal en donkere materie.

Online shopping boomed during the pandemic, but it remains vulnerable to scams involving both buyers and sellers. Quantum communication could, in principle, add another layer of security, but verifying a transaction securely, rather than simply communicating it, requires a “signature” consisting of thousands of quantum bits (qubits) for a single bit of message.

The Chinese search engine company Baidu is giving up its quantum computing division by donating its entire research facility to the government-run Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences (BAQIS). The company says that the two parties are currently in discussion over the details of the donation.

Een baanbrekend experiment bij de TU Delft laat voor het eerst zien dat magnetische golven, spingolven genaamd, door middel van supergeleiders beheersbaar zijn. Spingolven hebben de potentie om elektrische apparatuur efficiënter te maken of om als connectoren in een quantumcomputer te dienen. Het resultaat zet daarmee een flinke stap richting toepassingen van dit natuurkundige fenomeen.

Ultracold molecules are a step closer to being a viable platform for quantum technology thanks to two independent teams of researchers who showed they could entangle pairs of molecules and encode them as quantum bits (qubits). Because molecules offer new ways to encode quantum information and can interact with each other over long distances, the two works offer new possibilities in quantum computing and quantum simulations beyond those provided by other types of qubits.

Physicists in Austria have found a quick and efficient way of extracting information on a quantum material’s large-scale entanglement structure thanks to a 50-year-old theorem from quantum field theory. The new method could open doors in fields such as quantum information, quantum chemistry or even high-energy physics.

Physicists working on the ATLAS experiment at CERN have observed entanglement between pairs of top quarks for the first time. The finding demonstrates that entanglement can occur at energies more than 12 orders of magnitude higher than is typical for laboratory entanglement experiments. They also show that particle-physics facilities such as CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) can be used to study quantum mechanics and quantum information.

A 20-qubit quantum processor has been used to simulate the classical and quantum nature of non-equilibrium phase transitions. The work was done by researchers in the US and Canada, who used a processor made by Quantinuum, which is based in the UK and US. The team’s success suggests that small-scale quantum processors could soon be solving some problems that are beyond the capability of conventional computers – an achievement called quantum advantage. This advantage could be put to use in fields including condensed matter, quantum optics and metrology.

Chemical reactions are like a dance between atoms and molecules. As the dancers bounce into each other, they may react to form new combinations, or they may not. The whole process is incredibly complex and unpredictable, with many possible outcomes.

Physicists in the Netherlands and Germany have shown that the theories of thermodynamics and quantum mechanics are both valid ways of describing the behaviour of photons in a quantum processor. The results, obtained by researchers at the University of Twente and the Freie Universität Berlin, open the door to a deeper understanding of how to reconcile these two great theories.

A 127-qubit quantum processor has been used by an international team of researchers to calculate the magnetic properties of a model 2D material. They found that their IBM quantum computer could perform a calculation that a conventional computer simply cannot, thereby showing that their processor offers quantum advantage over today’s systems – at least for this particular application. What is more, the result was achieved without the need for quantum error correction.

Intel – the world’s biggest computer-chip maker – has released its newest quantum chip and has begun shipping it to quantum scientists and engineers to use in their research. Dubbed Tunnel Falls, the chip contains a 12-qubit array and is based on silicon spin-qubit technology.

Physicists at the Universities of Innsbruck in Austria and Paris-Saclay in France have combined all the key functionalities of a long-distance quantum network into a single system for the first time. In a proof-of-principle experiment, they used this system to transfer quantum information via a so-called repeater node over a distance of 50 kilometres – far enough to indicate that the building blocks of practical, large-scale quantum networks may soon be within reach.

The Japanese electronics giant Sony has announced its first steps into quantum computing by joining other investment groups in a £42m venture in the UK quantum computing firm Quantum Motion. The move by the investment arm of Sony aims to boost the company’s expertise in silicon quantum chip development as well as to assist in a potential quantum computer roll-out onto the Japanese market.

Australia has launched its first national quantum strategy with the aim of becoming a global player in quantum technologies by the end of the decade. Released by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, the A$1bn initiative aims to boost Australia’s economy, protect the country’s national security and prevent a brain drain of top people heading abroad.

The German government says it will spend €3bn over the next three years to build a universal quantum computer. The project is part of a new initiative to make Germany competitive with countries that have already built or are taking steps to construct such a device. It is hoped the cash will boost the German economy and place the country at the top of quantum developments in the European Union.

The CERN particle-physics laboratory near Geneva could be an ideal location for a next-generation atom interferometer. That is according to an international collaboration of researchers who say that the experiment could be used to study gravitational waves as well as search for ultra-light dark-matter particles.

Researchers at Google Quantum AI have made an important breakthrough in the development of quantum error correction, a technique that is considered essential for building large scale quantum computers that can solve practical problems. The team showed that computational error rates can be reduced by increasing the number of quantum bits (qubits) used to perform quantum error correction. This result is an important step towards creating fault tolerant quantum computers.

A way of colliding ultracold molecules while controlling the rate at which they react has been developed by physicists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics have made a similar discovery using an different experimental technique. Their research opens new pathways for enhanced control of chemical reactions.

Europe is leading the race to implement quantum-based technologies, according to a new report from the European Commission. The report examines the state of the 10-year €1bn Quantum Technologies Flagship programme, which began in 2018. It aims to boost quantum research in Europe as well foster the implementation of quantum technologies such as quantum sensing, communication and computation.

Een internationaal team van astronomen laat met hun early release science-data zien waar de James Webb-ruimtetelescoop toe in staat is. Zij brachten voor het eerst de chemische samenstelling van de atmosfeer van een exoplaneet zeer duidelijk in kaart. De kennis die sterrenkundigen hebben verkregen door onderzoek te doen naar de atmosfeer zal in de toekomst kunnen helpen om te zoeken naar eventueel leven op andere rotsachtige planeten.

An important step towards the practical use of optical metasurfaces has been taken by researchers in the US. The team used a common semiconductor manufacturing process to produce a large aperture, flat metalens. Its optical performance was demonstrated by using it as the objective lens in a simple telescope that was aimed at the Moon. The telescope achieved superior resolving power and produced clear images of the surface of the Moon.

Onze Maan is het enige hemellichaam dat in baantjes rond de Aarde draait. Maar de Maan draait ook steeds verder van ons weg, wat betekent dat ze miljarden jaren geleden een stuk dichter bij de Aarde stond. Hoeveel dichterbij, dat was tot nu toe moeilijk vast te stellen. Nieuw onderzoek gaat een miljard jaar verder terug dan voorgaand onderzoek en laat ons de toestand en evolutie van het vroegere AardeMaansysteem zien.

A British quantum start-up firm has been awarded one of the largest government quantum-computing contracts ever given to a single company. Universal Quantum has won the €67m contract from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to build fully scalable quantum computers based on trapped-ion technology.

The UK government must be bold and ambitious to position the country as a world leader in the global quantum technologies market. So says a new report released last month by the Institute of Physics (IOP), which also calls for quantum start-up firms in the UK to be supported to allow research institutes to spin out quantum businesses more easily.

For most people, quantum mechanics seems pretty weird. Take the principle of delocalization, which states that a quantum particle can, in some sense, exist simultaneously in multiple locations. Then there’s entanglement: the invisible connection between particles that allows the state of one particle to determine that of another, even across vast distances. But as weird as delocalization and entanglement are, they can be very useful, and physicists at JILA in Boulder, Colorado, US have now incorporated both into a single quantum sensor for the first time. The new sensor can detect accelerations below the usual limit set by noise arising from quantum fluctuations, providing a sharper tool for exploring fundamental physics as well as for applications such as navigation and Earth monitoring.

A team of researchers in the Netherlands has placed a record number of silicon spin qubits on a chip. By combining an advanced modular software stack, efficient calibration routines and reliable device fabrication, the researchers showed that they could operate the new six-qubit chip with high fidelity, clearing the way for even larger qubit numbers in silicon-based devices.

Onderzoekers van de Technische Universiteit Delft hebben voor het eerst een intrinsiek gedreven nanoturbine ontwikkeld, die in groot contrast staat met de huidige extern aangedreven nanomotoren. Ze gebruiken hiervoor een zelforganiserend proces van DNA dat zich ontvouwt tot een propellor die in de vloeistofstroming van een nano-porie roteert en daarmee arbeid verricht. Deze ontdekking is een
enorme stap vooruit voor synthetische nanomotoren die bijvoorbeeld gebruikt kunnen worden voor robotica op de nanoschaal.

Martijn Boerkamp reports how investments into quantum computing have ballooned in the past year, bringing huge expectations for the sector.

Two independent research groups have demonstrated a protocol for distributing quantum-encrypted keys via a method that is sure to leave would-be network hackers in the dark. The protocol, dubbed device independent quantum key distribution, was first proposed three decades ago but had not been realized experimentally before due to technical limitations, which the researchers have now overcome.

The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has selected four algorithms that will be developed as post-quantum encryption standards to protect data from a future quantum computer attack. The announcement follows a six-year competition, with NIST now calling on institutions to investigate how to best apply the standards.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) might want to add quantum communication to its list of ways for aliens to get in touch. According to calculations by researchers at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, quantum signals would be a viable means of establishing contact across interstellar distances – a result that also suggests we might need to update our technology to recognize any such signals coming in our direction.

De zeespiegel gaat stijgen, dat staat vast. Onderzoek naar klimaatverandering laat zien dat we de komende decennia een onvermijdelijke stijging in zeewaterniveau kunnen verwachten. Maar hoe groot de verwachte stijging is, hangt af van het type model dat gebruikt wordt voor de voorspelling, waarbij soms een zelfde set van data verschillende conclusies geeft. Dit is niets nieuws in de wetenschap, aangezien de complexiteit van grootschalige systemen, zoals het klimaat, zich niet makkelijk laat modelleren. Maar het maakt het er niet makkelijker op voor de beleidsmakers die ervoor moeten zorgen dat we goed voorbereid zijn, want je kunt je beslissing niet elke keer aanpassen als er een nieuwe publicatie uitkomt.

Physicists in the US have created ultracold polyatomic molecules by trapping and cooling them directly in three dimensions. Led by John Doyle at Harvard University, the team used a standard device known as a magneto-optical trap (MOT), plus additional laser cooling techniques, to reduce the temperature of a sample of calcium hydroxide (CaOH) molecules to just 110 µK. By showing that direct laser cooling is possible, the result opens the door to experiments in molecule-based quantum simulation and studies of chemical reactions involving polyatomic molecules.

Physicists in the Netherlands have shown for the first time that quantum information can be reliably teleported between network nodes that are not directly connected to each other. According to the researchers, who created the world’s first three-node quantum network at QuTech (a collaboration between the Delft University of Technology and TNO) in 2021, the latest work marks a further step towards a scalable quantum Internet.

The Dutch photonic chip industry has been boosted with €1.1bn of public and private investment. The cash, which includes €470m from the Dutch government’s National Growth Fund, will be used by PhotonDelta over six years to create hundreds of photonic start-up companies and scale up photonic-chip production to encourage development of new photonic applications.

Researchers in Japan have developed a way of correcting errors in quantum operations without applying a magnetic field. The new zero-field technique, which they demonstrated using quantum bits (qubits) constructed from atomic-scale imperfections in diamond, could make it possible to integrate such qubits with others based on superconducting circuits, and thereby construct larger and more powerful quantum devices.

Researchers in the Netherlands and the US have shown for the first time that qubits – the building blocks of quantum computers – can be mass-produced using standard processes developed for manufacturing conventional integrated circuits. The breakthrough paves the way for developing powerful quantum machines that require thousands or even millions of identical qubits for full-scale operation.

A new method for producing medical radioisotopes has passed its first milestone, by exposing a target to an electron beam at energy densities several orders of magnitude higher than found at the core of the Sun. This achievement paves the way for alternative radioisotope production methods using electron accelerators that do not require enriched uranium and produce little nuclear waste.

Researchers in Australia have created the largest time crystal to date, using 57 qubits on an openly accessible IBM quantum computer to construct an exotic phase of matter with properties that repeat over time, rather than in space. The result emphasizes the utility of quantum computers for simulating complex quantum systems and marks an important step towards creating even larger systems of time crystals.

Two Dutch organizations have teamed up to announce a programme to help new mothers continue working in quantum technologies. The Quantum Childcare Pilot Programme is funded by the Dutch organization Quantum Delta NL and the professional body Women in Quantum Development (WIQD) and is aimed at women working in quantum-related fields in the Netherlands. It will offer grants to help parents find childcare so they can attend quantum-related events and conferences.

Ultrathin solar cells have reached record-breaking efficiency thanks to a novel manufacturing method that introduces specific types of disorder within the cells’ nanocrystalline structure. The low cost, reduced mass and non-toxic nature of this type of cell makes them ideal for integration into cars, rooftops or mobile devices, and the newly streamlined way of manufacturing them paves the way for their large-scale production.

Researchers in China have found strong evidence of ultracold triatomic molecules forming within a mixture of ultracold atoms and diatomic molecules. The result, if confirmed, would provide an ideal pathway to studying chemical reactions on an atomic scale, and could even allow physicists to perform quantum-mechanical simulations of the notoriously difficult three-body problem.

With its optical system, Inphocal can take focused laser beams beyond their current limitations. This has caught international attention, with the team picking up an Innovation Award at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The HightechXL startup expects the novel laser beams to reach the market already this year.

Dutch physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf, 62, has been appointed education, culture and science minister in the newly formed Dutch cabinet led by Mark Rutte, who began his fourth term as prime minister last month.

Industrial manufacturing is subject to stringent testing protocols aimed at guaranteeing the quality of the final product. In some circumstances, though, these methods are not sensitive enough to detect flaws, leading to incorrect determinations of quality. Researchers at the Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRiM) in Torino, Italy have now shown that alternatives based on quantum entanglement can produce more accurate assessments of “good” and “failed” products. Importantly, the INRiM team’s system uses relatively simple equipment, increasing the chances that it could be used in industrial settings.

A new way of converting infrared light into visible wavelengths could make it possible to detect and measure mid-infrared signals using cheap and efficient sensors like those found in mobile-phone cameras. The method, which was developed independently by two teams of researchers, could have applications in areas as diverse as personalized medicine, environmental monitoring and security.

A two-dimensional semiconductor crystal just three atomic layers thick has emitted laser-like light. Crucially, this emission happened at room temperature: a significant improvement over previous cryogenic experiments. Coherent light generation from these ultrathin crystals paves the way for creating novel nanolasers, as well as opening doors for an emerging field of two-dimensional materials called valleytronics.

Freeke Heijman from Quantum Delta NL tells Martijn Boerkamp how the
Netherlands is forging ahead in quantum technologies

The event I attended on Friday caught my attention for several reasons. Billed as the Quantum Network Explorer (QNE) Launch, it took place in the Hague, the Netherlands, not far from where I live. In a year that has seen so much exciting progress on quantum networks, I was curious to find out what it involved. But I was also drawn by the event’s name, which made it sound a lot like Microsoft’s all-but-defunct web browser, Internet Explorer.

Time crystals are special quantum systems that exhibit periodicity in time, just as crystalline materials are periodic in space. Since 2012, when they were first proposed theoretically, several groups have built experimental systems that demonstrate key characteristics of time crystals, but these results lacked a method to generally stabilize the time crystalline phase. An international team of researchers has now gone beyond previous experiments by creating a type of time crystal known as a discrete time crystal (DTC) out of a chain of programmable spin quantum bits (qubits). The new system exhibits a phenomenon known as many-body localization that prevents the DTC from heating up and thermalizing and is considered a “smoking gun” that demonstrates its status as a genuine time crystal.

The quest for physics outside the Standard Model often takes place at major accelerator facilities like CERN’s Large Hadron Collider or huge underground detectors for neutrinos, dark matter and other exotic particles. Researchers in the Netherlands have now opened an alternative front in this quest by developing a new laboratory-scale technique for trapping heavy neutral molecules. Such molecules are considered ideal candidates for detecting beyond-the-Standard-Model asymmetries in the electron’s electric dipole moment (eEDM), but previous methods were not capable of confining them. The technique therefore gives physicists a fresh set of tools for finding new physics.

Calls have been made to help scientists in Afghanistan after the country was plunged into chaos in August when the Taliban regime took power in the war-torn country. Universities and other educational institutions have already closed their doors and science education has ground to a halt. Some scientists have even fled abroad, believing themselves direct targets of the Taliban.

A new way of controlling the expansion of matter in a freely-falling Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)has produced the coldest effective temperature ever measured: 38 pK (10 K) above absolute zero. The method, which allowed researchers in Germany and France to image the condensate’s evolution for more than two seconds, opens the door to enhanced measurements of the gravitational constant g and photon recoil, and could even offer an alternative mea

Een reis naar een andere ster in ons universum maak je niet zomaar, want je bent misschien wel honderden jaren onderweg. Daarom denken onderzoekers aan de TU Delft alvast na hoe je een ruimteschip tijdens de reis kan laten evolueren, om zodoende de lange reis te kunnen overbruggen.

Vliegtuigen geven een karakteristiek geluid af, wat zeer storend kan zijn voor mensen die dichtbij een vliegveld wonen. Nieuw onderzoek naar de akoestiek van vliegtuigen laat zien hoe dit type lawaai verholpen wordt, waardoor vliegtuigen net zo geruisloos als uilen door de lucht kunnen zweven.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has unveiled a new space programme following a €7.5bn partnership deal with the European Union (EU). The investment, running from 2021 to 2027, accounts for approximately 20% of ESA’s total budget and will be spent designing new-generation navigation systems and programmes to boost the economy and provide a green and digital Europe. It will also support new initiatives in security and space commercialization, and offer new funding opportunities for entrepreneurship.

Wetenschappers aan de TU Delft gebruiken een revolutionaire technologie om in DNA te knippen. Virussen maak je daarmee onschadelijk of kunnen juist worden geherprogrammeerd, om ons lichaam te laten herstellen van een ziekte.

We laten tegenwoordig veel van ons werk door robots uitvoeren, bijvoorbeeld in zelfrijdende auto’s. Maar het zijn niet alleen de fysieke taken die robots uitvoeren: ze kunnen ook over complexe dingen nadenken, zoals een mens dat nooit zou kunnen. De TU Delft is al bezig met deze toekomst en zet groots in op onderzoek en onderwijs rondom dit thema.

Een gaslek kan nare gevolgen hebben. En het vinden van een gaslek kan veel tijd kosten, wat het extra gevaarlijk maakt voor de brandweerlieden die deze taak uitvoeren. Een nieuwe technologie, waarbij mini-drones worden ingezet om een gaslek op te sporen, kan veilig en snel het probleem oplossen.

Ons brein bevat miljarden neuronen, die nauwgezet samenwerken om ons te laten doen en denken. Zoveel neuronen, en biljoenen aan neuronale contacten, maakt dit tot een complex geheel. TU Delft onderzoekers proberen ons brein beter te begrijpen. Dit kan uiteindelijk zelfs leiden tot een betere behandeling van, bijvoorbeeld, Alzheimer.

Een wereldwijde primeur werd afgelopen week door het Delftse QuTech, samen met Quantum Delta NL, KPN en Cisco, gepresenteerd. Het ging om de allereerste demonstratie van een onkraakbaar quantum-internet.

If you’ve ever attended the premiere of a film or an event where a new type of car is presented, you’ll know that there’s a slight buzz of excitement that comes from not knowing what to expect. I’ve been feeling that buzz for the past two weeks, leading up to an event that promised a “world premiere live demonstration of the next step in quantum cryptography”. It was not that the whole event was clouded in mystery, as some small teasers were released leading up to it. Still, with all the recent developments on the quantum Internet, I was left wondering: what exactly is the “state of the art” they plan to demonstrate?

Een nieuwe methode, waarbij nanodeeltjes direct in een tumor worden gespoten, moet gaan zorgen voor een meer effectieve behandeling tegen borstkanker. Deze eenmalige behandeling zal minder schadelijk zijn dan, bijvoorbeeld radio- of chemotherapie, en is daarmee minder zwaar voor de patiënt.

De Europese ruimtevaartorganisatie (ESA) stuurt, met een beetje hulp vanuit Delft, een ruimtevaartuig genaamd EnVision met gevoelige meetapparatuur naar onze buurplaneet Venus. Door Venus te bestuderen kunnen we meer te weten komen over onze eigen klimaatverandering.

Onderzoekers van QuTech en Intel hebben samen een chip ontwikkeld die helpt een belangrijk probleem binnen de ontwikkeling van een quantumcomputer op te lossen. Deze chip wordt tot extreem koude temperaturen gekoeld en kan, op dezelfde manier als bij een normale computer, een quantumcomputer aansturen.

Een nieuwe samenwerking, tussen het TU Delft team ‘Lunar Zebro’ en TNO, moet leiden tot unieke maanrobots die over enkele jaren over het maanoppervlak lopen. De samenwerking combineert cruciale kennis en kunde en probeert voor het eerst Nederlandse technologie op de maan te zetten.

Aircision and TNO have completed their test of setting up fast data transmission links between two towers using laser beams. They succeeded in 10 Gb/s data transmission over a distance of 2.5 kilometers, which is considered an important landmark for ground-to-ground laser communication. This ‘fiber-optic-through-the-sky’ technology, named free-space optics, can now make its way into 5G broadband connectivity.

Onderzoekers van de TU Delft hebben voor het eerst het uitwisselen van informatie tussen atomen gemeten. Met een uiterst innovatieve methode lukte dit. Het onderzoek wordt gebruikt om de atomaire wereld beter te begrijpen.

Quantum repeaters that can store multiplexed signals; provide heralded signals of entanglement; and operate at telecommunications wavelengths have been developed by two independent research teams. Their work could prove to be an important step towards the creation of a scalable quantum internet.

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’, is een bekend liedje van Marilyn Monroe. Maar diamanten zijn niet alleen mooi, ze zijn ook veelzijdig. Onderzoekers aan de TU Delft bekijken verschillende toepassingen voor dit wondermateriaal, waarvan één belangrijke toepassing het zuiveren van water is.

We verzenden tegenwoordig al onze informatie versleuteld. Dit doen we om onze gegevens niet in de verkeerde handen te laten vallen. Het proces achter de versleuteling, genaamd encryptie, zorgt ervoor dat zelfs de beste computer er miljoenen jaren over doet om de versleuteling te kraken. Maar er zijn tegenwoordig veel ontwikkelingen op het gebied van quantumcomputers, waarvan de verwachting is dat ze zeer complexe berekeningen kunnen oplossen en dus mogelijk de versleuteling kunnen kraken. Zijn onze digitale systemen eigenlijk wel beveiligd tegen aanvallen van quantumcomputers?

A consortium of Dutch funders and institutes – including the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research and the University of Technology Delft – as well as several industry partners, such as Microsoft and telecoms provider KPN, have announced a research partnership to study how to protect public digital infrastructures from the malicious use of quantum computers.

Chemical reactions are complex. Even if only a few molecules are involved, the final configuration will depend on a huge number of parameters – including, in principle, all the possible locations each electron in each atom can occupy as the reaction takes place. Calculating these trajectories is beyond the power of today’s best computers, but researchers led by Kang-Kuen Ni of Harvard University in the US have now demonstrated an alternative. By cooling molecules of potassium and rubidium down to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, they reduced the number of possible reaction outcomes to just 57. They then probed all these outcomes down to the level of individual quantum states, paving the way for a better understanding of chemistry.

Kan iedere patiënt binnenkort een behandeling krijgen die op maat is gemaakt? Als het aan de Delftse startup Bi/ond ligt wel. Hun technologie, om je eigen cellen op hun chip in het lab te laten groeien, is nu op de markt.

Wetenschappers aan de TU Delft hebben een robuust, maar tegelijkertijd flexibel materiaal gemaakt van levende algen. Zij gebruiken hiervoor 3D-printers, in combinatie met een nieuwe bioprinttechniek. Het materiaal is 100% organisch, biologisch afbreekbaar en kent veel toepassingen, zoals kunstmatige bladeren of levende sensoren.

Na alle positieve verhalen in het nieuws over quantumcomputers zou je denken dat deze computers alleen maar goede doeleinden hebben. Maar wat als iemand een quantumcomputer gebruikt om jouw informatie te hacken? Een nieuw project zoekt hiervoor oplossingen en zorgt daarmee voor een quantumveilige toekomst.

Wetenschappers aan de TU Delft hebben een levend materiaal gemaakt, dat tegelijkertijd stevig en flexibel is. Ze gebruikten levende, fotosynthetische algencellen die met behulp van een 3D-printer op het materiaal aangebracht werden. Het levende materiaal is 100% organisch en biologisch afbreekbaar en kan worden toegepast als kunstmatige bladeren of als levende sensoren.

We zien telkens meer zonnepanelen verschijnen. Helaas kan niet iedereen de aanschaf betalen. Maar wat als je meer energie uit goedkopere panelen kan halen? Nieuw TU Delft onderzoek laat zien dat een bijna maximaal rendement op economisch materiaal binnen handbereik is.

TNO is geselecteerd voor het ontwerp van een essentieel onderdeel van de grootste Europese zonnetelescoop. Deze telescoop wordt gebouwd op de Canarische Eilanden en stelt ons in staat om heel gedetailleerd onze zon te onderzoeken