{"id":253140,"date":"2025-09-25T08:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/253140\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T08:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:16:14","slug":"physicists-find-a-new-way-around-quantum-limits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/253140\/","title":{"rendered":"Physicists Find a New Way Around Quantum Limits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Quantum<\/a>By reworking the very nature of quantum uncertainty, researchers have discovered a way to measure the unmeasurable with unprecedented precision. Their method, adapted from quantum computing, hints at a future of sensors so sensitive they could transform navigation, medicine, and astronomy. Credit: Shutterstock
\nFoundational research is paving the way for next-generation quantum sensors.<\/p>\n

Physicists in Australia and the United Kingdom have found a way to reshape quantum uncertainty, offering a new method that bypasses the limits set by the well-known Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Their discovery could lay the groundwork for next-generation sensors with extraordinary precision, with potential uses in navigation, medical imaging, and astronomy.<\/p>\n

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle, first introduced in 1927, states that it is impossible to know certain pairs of properties, such as a particle\u2019s position and momentum, with unlimited accuracy at the same time. In practice, this means that increasing precision in one property inevitably reduces certainty in the other.<\/p>\n

In a study published in Science Advances, researchers led by Dr. Tingrei Tan of the University of Sydney Nano Institute and School of Physics demonstrated how to design an alternative trade-off, one that allows position and momentum to be measured simultaneously with exceptional accuracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink of uncertainty like air in a balloon,\u201d said Dr. Tan, a Sydney Horizon Fellow in the Faculty of Science. \u201cYou can\u2019t remove it without popping the balloon, but you can squeeze it around to shift it. That\u2019s effectively what we\u2019ve done. We push the unavoidable quantum uncertainty to places we don\u2019t care about (big, coarse jumps in position and momentum) so the fine details we do care about can be measured more precisely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Clock<\/a>By sacrificing our knowledge about the \u2018coarse information\u2019 our quantum experiment can focus on the finer information, circumventing, but not breaching, Heisenberg\u2019s uncertainty principle. The researchers use the analogy of a clock. Think of a normal clock with two hands: the hour hand and the minute hand. Now imagine the clock only has one hand. If it\u2019s the hour hand, you can tell what hour it is and roughly what minute, but the minute reading will be very imprecise. If the clock only has the minute hand, you can read the minutes very precisely, but you lose track of the larger context \u2013 specifically, which hour you\u2019re in. This \u2018modular\u2019 measurement sacrifices some global information in exchange for much finer detail. Credit: The University of Sydney<\/p>\n

The researchers also use the analogy of a clock to explain their findings (see image). Think of a normal clock with two hands: the hour hand and the minute hand. Now imagine the clock only has one hand. If it\u2019s the hour hand, you can tell what hour it is and roughly what minute, but the minute reading will be very imprecise. If the clock only has the minute hand, you can read the minutes very precisely, but you lose track of the larger context \u2013 specifically, which hour you\u2019re in. This \u2018modular\u2019 measurement sacrifices some global information in exchange for much finer detail.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy applying this strategy in quantum systems, we can measure the changes in both position and momentum of a particle far more precisely,\u201d said first author Dr. Christophe Valahu from the Quantum Control Laboratory team at the University of Sydney. \u201cWe give up global information but gain the ability to detect tiny changes with unprecedented sensitivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tingrei<\/a>Dr. Tingrei Tan in the Sydney Nanoscience Hub at the University of Sydney Nano Institute. Dr. Tan is a Sydney Horizon Fellow in the Faculty of Science and is the manager of the Quantum Control Laboratory at Sydney Nano. Credit: Fiona Wolf\/University of Sydney
\nQuantum computing tools for a new sensing protocol<\/p>\n

This strategy was outlined theoretically in 2017<\/a>. Here, Dr. Tan\u2019s team performed the first experimental demonstration by using a technological approach they had previously developed for error-corrected quantum computers, a result recently published<\/a> in Nature Physics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a neat crossover from quantum computing to sensing,\u201d said co-author Professor Nicolas Menicucci, a theorist from RMIT University. \u201cIdeas first designed for robust quantum computers can be repurposed so that sensors pick up weaker signals without being drowned out by quantum noise.<\/p>\n

The Sydney team implemented the sensing protocol using the tiny vibrational motion of a trapped ion \u2013 the quantum equivalent of a pendulum. They prepared the ion in \u201cgrid states\u201d, a kind of quantum state originally developed for error-corrected quantum computing. With this, they showed that both position and momentum can be measured together with precision beyond the \u2018standard quantum limit\u2019 \u2013 the best achievable using only classical sensors.<\/p>\n

\"Christophe<\/a>Dr. Christophe Valahu in the Quantum Control Laboratory at the University of Sydney Nano Institute. Dr. Valahu is standing in front of the ion trap used in the experiment. Credit: Fiona Wolf\/The University of Sydney<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t broken Heisenberg\u2019s principle. Our protocol works entirely within quantum mechanics,\u201d said Dr. Ben Baragiola, co-author from RMIT. \u201cThe scheme is optimized for small signals, where fine details matter more than coarse ones.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

The ability to detect extremely small changes is important across science and technology. Ultra-precise quantum sensors could sharpen navigation in environments where GPS doesn\u2019t work (such as submarines, underground, or spaceflight); enhance biological and medical imaging; monitor materials and gravitational systems; or probe fundamental physics.<\/p>\n

While still at the laboratory stage, the experiment demonstrates a new framework for future sensing technologies targeted towards measuring tiny signals. Rather than replacing existing approaches, it adds a complementary tool to the quantum-sensing toolbox.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as atomic clocks transformed navigation and telecommunications, quantum-enhanced sensors with extreme sensitivity could enable whole new industries,\u201d said Dr. Valahu.<\/p>\n

A collaborative effort<\/p>\n

This project united experimentalists at the University of Sydney with theorists at RMIT, the University of Melbourne, Macquarie University, and the University of Bristol in Britain. It shows how collaboration across institutions and borders can accelerate progress and strengthen Australia\u2019s quantum research community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work highlights the power of collaboration and the international connections that drive discovery,\u201d Dr. Tan said.<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cQuantum-enhanced multi-parameter sensing in a single mode\u201d 24 September 2025,\u00a0Science Advances.
DOI: 10.1126\/sciadv.adw9757<\/p>\n

Funding: Australian Research Council, Office of Naval Research Global, US Army Research Office for Physical Sciences, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Lockheed Martin, European Commission, Sydney Quantum Academy, H. and A. Harley<\/p>\n

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