{"id":29357,"date":"2025-07-01T08:15:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T08:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/29357\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T08:15:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T08:15:15","slug":"what-are-neutral-atoms-a-research-qa-with-swinburne-universitys-quantum-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/29357\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Neutral Atoms? A Research Q&#038;A With Swinburne University&#8217;s Quantum Expert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Insider Brief<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Neutral atoms\u2014atoms with balanced charges\u2014can be cooled to near absolute zero and manipulated using lasers, enabling their use in atomic clocks, quantum sensors, and potentially error-corrected quantum computers.<\/li>\n<li>As tech giants race to build practical quantum computers, Swinburne University of Technology is advancing research into ultracold neutral atoms, a promising platform for scalable quantum technologies.<\/li>\n<li>Swinburne\u2019s Optical Sciences Centre has been studying quantum vortices and cold atom behavior for two decades, contributing foundational research now attracting interest from companies like Microsoft and Google.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>UNIVERSITY NEWS \u2014 The race to build the first useful quantum computer is on and may revolutionise the world with brand new capabilities, from medicine to freight logistics.<\/p>\n<p>Tech companies all want to take the crown, with Microsoft announcing the first of its kind quantum chip in February, only days before Google\u2019s breakthrough on quantum error correction.<\/p>\n<p>As the race heats up, companies are turning to a new ultracold solution \u2013 neutral atoms \u2013 which Swinburne University of Technology has been exploring and making discoveries in for two decades.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thequantuminsider.com\/data\/\" onclick=\"_gs(&#039;event&#039;, &#039;DATA IN CONTENT NEW&#039;)\" class=\"responsive-image\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Website-Banner-Quantum-2.gif\" alt=\"Responsive Image\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Swinburne quantum expert Associate Professor\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/experts.swinburne.edu.au\/4536-tapio-simula\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tapio Simula<\/a>\u00a0explains what neutral atoms are and what makes them a key player in our quantum future.<\/p>\n<p>What are neutral atoms?<\/p>\n<p>Atoms underpin all of chemistry, as they form the basis of elements and their interactions. A neutral atom is an atom where the number of protons (positively charged particles) equals the number of electrons (negatively charged particles). This balance results in no overall electrical charge, making the atom electrically neutral.<\/p>\n<p>For our quantum future, neutral atoms hold great opportunities and are the most useful when cooled down to ultralow temperatures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA typical cold atom experiment takes a small cloud of neutral atoms \u2013 millions of times thinner than air \u2013 and levitates it inside a vacuum chamber using optics and magnetic fields,\u201d explains Associate Professor Simula.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen laser beams are fired at the atoms to, counter-intuitively, cool the atoms incredibly close to absolute zero. At this point, they can no longer be described using classical Newtonian physics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom here, the laws of quantum mechanics open a world of new opportunities, with experimentalists using these ultracold neutral atom platforms to study the fundamental laws of physics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What can cold neutral atoms do?<\/p>\n<p>Ultracold neutral atoms are used for building game-changing technologies including the world\u2019s most accurate atomic clocks, ultra-sensitive quantum sensors, and state-of-the-art quantum computers.<\/p>\n<p>Within the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swinburne.edu.au\/research\/centres-groups-clinics\/optical-sciences-centre\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Optical Sciences Centre<\/a>\u00a0at Swinburne University of Technology, there are three cold atoms research laboratories dedicated for experimental studies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There, Associate Professor Simula\u2019s research has shown promise on the physics of quantum vortices in superfluids \u2013 fluids\u00a0 that may realize lossless transport of energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese tiny quantum cyclones have deep connections to a diversity of phenomena ranging from high-temperature superconductivity to the physics of rotating neutron stars.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of them could even be used as quantum bits of information in a quantum computer, like the one Microsoft is working on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Why are neutral atoms important?<\/p>\n<p>Neutral atoms are the new player in town that could be the key to our quantum computing dreams, with big tech companies including\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/quantum-computing-startup-quera-closes-230-million-funding-round-2025-02-11\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pasqal.com\/newsroom\/ibm-and-pasqal-initiate-collaboration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IBM<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/azure.microsoft.com\/en-us\/blog\/quantum\/2024\/11\/19\/microsoft-and-atom-computing-offer-a-commercial-quantum-machine-with-the-largest-number-of-entangled-logical-qubits-on-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Microsoft<\/a>\u00a0now partnering with neutral atom quantum computer developers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The world\u2019s quantum future will be unlocked with a combination of quantum computing, sensing and communication, says Associate Professor Simula.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of these developers are spin-off companies spawning out of cold atoms research laboratories similar to those housed at Swinburne where ground-breaking ultracold atoms research has been conducted already for two decades.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile quantum computers do exist, they\u2019re still in their infancy. But they promise huge potential to transform logistics, medtech and more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Insider Brief Neutral atoms\u2014atoms with balanced charges\u2014can be cooled to near absolute zero and manipulated using lasers, enabling&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[745,25127,25128,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-29357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-computing","9":"tag-neutral-atoms","10":"tag-swinburne-university","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114776986524217037","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}