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.
Magnons in a sphere squeezed to quantum limit
There is always noise in the microworld. Even in absolute emptiness, something trembles, and these quantum fluctuations interfere with precise measurements. But noise can be "squeezed," like a balloon: if you squeeze it from the sides, one part gets thinner while the other bulges.