Scientists have achieved a major breakthrough in quantum computing by successfully cracking the code hidden within a single atom. To build a large-scale quantum computer that works, scientists and engineers need to overcome the spontaneous errors that quantum bits, or qubits, create as they operate.

The team at the Quantum Control Laboratory at the University of Sydney Nano Institute has demonstrated a type of quantum logic gate that drastically reduces the number physical qubits needed for its operation. They built an entangling logic gate on a single atom using an error-correcting code nicknamed the ‘Rosetta stone’ of quantum computing.

This curiously named Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) code has long offered a theoretical possibility for significantly reducing the physical number of qubits needed to produce a functioning ‘logical qubit.’ Albeit by trading efficiency for complexity, making the codes very difficult to control. The research published in Nature Physics demonstrates this as a physical reality.

Led by Sydney Horizon Fellow Dr Tingrei Tan at the University of Sydney Nano Institute, scientists have used their exquisite control over the harmonic motion of a trapped ion to bridge the coding complexity of GKP qubits, allowing a demonstration of their entanglement.

The team’s experiment has shown the first realization of a universal logical gate set for GKP qubits. They did this by precisely controlling the natural vibrations or harmonic oscillations of a trapped ion in such a way that they can manipulate individual GKP qubits or entangle them as a pair.

A logic gate is an information switch that allows computers – quantum and classical – to be programmable to perform logical operations. Quantum logic gates use the entanglement of qubits to produce a completely different sort of operational system to that used in classical computing, underpinning the great promise of quantum computers.

The researchers have effectively stored two error-correctable logical qubits in a single trapped ion and demonstrated entanglement between them using quantum control software developed by Q-CTRL. This result massively reduces the quantum hardware required to create these logic gates, which allow quantum machines to be programmed.

This research represents an important demonstration that quantum logic gates can be developed with a reduced physical number of qubits, increasing their efficiency. The authors declare no competing interests. Funding was received from various sources including the Australian Research Council and private funding from H. and A. Harley.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in writing and editing emails has become a common practice among professionals, with over 75% of them utilizing tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, or Claude in their daily work. While these generative AI tools can make writing easier, research reveals that relying on them too heavily can undermine trust between managers and employees.

A study conducted by researchers Anthony Coman and Peter Cardon surveyed 1,100 professionals about their perceptions of emails written with low, medium, and high levels of AI assistance. The results showed a “perception gap” in messages written by managers versus those written by employees. When evaluating their own use of AI, participants tended to rate it similarly across different levels of assistance. However, when rating others’ use, the magnitude of AI assistance became important.

The study found that low levels of AI help, such as grammar or editing, were generally acceptable. However, higher levels of assistance triggered negative perceptions, especially among employees who perceived their managers’ reliance on AI-generated content as laziness or a lack of caring. This perception gap had a substantial impact on trust: only 40% to 52% of employees viewed supervisors as sincere when they used high levels of AI, compared to 83% for low-assistance messages.

The findings suggest that managers should carefully consider message type, level of AI assistance, and relational context before using AI in their writing. While AI may be suitable for informational or routine communications, relationship-oriented messages requiring empathy, praise, congratulations, motivation, or personal feedback are better handled with minimal technological intervention.

In essence, the quiet threat to trust posed by overreliance on AI emails is a reminder that while technology can enhance productivity and efficiency, it cannot replace human touch and emotional intelligence in workplace relationships.

The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has put an immense strain on our energy resources. In response, researchers are racing to find innovative solutions that can make AI more efficient and sustainable. A groundbreaking discovery in spin wave technology could be the game-changer we’ve been waiting for. A team from the Universities of Münster and Heidelberg, led by physicist Prof. Rudolf Bratschitsch, has successfully developed a novel way to produce waveguides that enable spin waves to travel farther than ever before.

The scientists have created the largest spin waveguide network in history, with 198 nodes connected by high-quality waveguides. This achievement is made possible by using yttrium iron garnet (YIG), a material known for its low attenuation properties. The team employed a precise technique involving a silicon ion beam to inscribe individual spin-wave waveguides into a thin film of YIG, resulting in complex structures that are both flexible and reproducible.

One of the key advantages of this breakthrough is the ability to control the properties of the spin wave transmitted through the waveguide. Researchers were able to accurately alter the wavelength and reflection of the spin wave at specific interfaces, paving the way for more efficient AI processing. This innovation has the potential to revolutionize the field of AI by making it 10 times more efficient.

The study was published in Nature Materials, a prestigious scientific journal. The project received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the Collaborative Research Centre 1459 “Intelligent Matter.” This groundbreaking discovery is poised to take AI to new heights and make our energy resources go further than ever before.