Chi Zhang

A thin semiconductor layer at low temperatures behaves like a pot of honey: electrons flow not as individual particles but as a thick liquid. If you run an alternating current through such a layer, the resistance responds with a smooth curve.

A freshly polished niobium surface shines like a mirror. But within minutes, a dull oxide film, invisible to the eye, forms on it. For a superconducting qubit, this film is like sand in an hourglass: it causes the quantum state to decay prematurely.

Textbooks divide particles into two camps: bosons love to crowd into the same state, fermions absolutely refuse. But nature allows a third option. Anyons are quasiparticles whose behavior lies somewhere in between. They can 'remember' how they were exchanged and obey a nonstandard exclusion principle.

Quantum tunneling — the ability of particles to pass through barriers forbidden by classical physics — powers stars with thermonuclear fusion, ignites primordial nucleosynthesis, and gives us flash memory.