Honeycombs of Light: Topology at Room Temperature
Topological phases usually hide inside cryostats. Superconducting circuits, ultracold atoms, laser pulses: all of them shield quantum order from thermal noise.
Quantum Microscope Sees What Ordinary Light Can't
Light in a microscope doesn't arrive as a steady stream but like buckshot from a bag: sometimes more photons, sometimes fewer. This random scatter is the shot noise. It sets a limit: faint signals from tiny objects get lost in the ripple.
Scientists have found a way to calm this buckshot.