Yu-ichiro Matsushita

A power transistor made of silicon carbide operates under voltages thousands of times higher than what comes out of a wall outlet. If the field inside it becomes uneven, the device burns out. Previously, this field was invisible: it is too strong for ordinary sensors, and the device must remain under voltage.

A quantum computer measures a molecule's energy much like an old tape measure that only has markings every meter. If the actual length of a table is 2.37 meters, the tape shows “two and a bit,” and you can't do better. Physicists call this resolution: the step of the grid, finer than which you cannot go. The authors of the new work turn this flaw into an advantage.