What's New

Matter-wave interferometry has remarkably advanced with systems as diverse as electrons, neutrons, cold atoms, molecules and nanoparticles. The conference Foundations of Matter-Wave Optics (FOMO) unites world experts in the field to review the state-of-art and to discuss new challenges. For more information, see the dedicated page at FOMO.

Prof. Angelo Bassi, together with the members of the research gorup Sandro Donadi, Michele Vischi, Giovanni Di Bartolomeo and Francesco Cesa, won the Leonardo Challenge on the Solvers Wanted innovation scouting platform, thanks to the project "Noisy quantum algorithms".

The challenges proposed on the Solvers Wanted platform, also open to the academic world and startups, were defined by Leonardo starting from the "Technology and Innovation Needs" linked to the needs of the company. In particular, among the themes of this edition, there was a challenge on the identification of sophisticated techniques in the field of quantum computing.

The project presented by the team focuses on the study of the effects of noise in the functioning of quantum computers. In particular, the goal will be to develop efficient schemes to simulate their propagation during the implementation of quantum algorithms on photonic quantum computers, specially in the framework of Measurement-Based algorithms.

The team was awarded a one-year collaboration contract with Leonardo to develop the idea, as well as the possibility of joining the "Leonardo team for innovation" network.

Quantum mechanics revolutionized our understanding of Nature. Its superposition principle describes the possibility of a system being prepared in two distinguishable physical configurations, for example, two distinct positions, and its application has already led to the development of several quantum technologies. Although countless experiments have verified the validity of the quantum theory at the level of single atoms and molecules, its universality up to the macroscopic scale is challenged on the daily basis. At the human scale, we do not perceive quantum superposition, meaning that -- somewhere between the microscopic scale of single atoms and ours – the quantum superposition progressively breaks down. Collapse models describe precisely such an effect, and their testing is pivotal in understanding the limits of the quantum theory. 

The last 20 years have seen a growing interest in applications of quantum theory to different physical systems, ranging from cold atoms to mesoscopic mirrors, from phonon dynamics in crystals to macroscopic resonators. Together with the development of the finest preparation and detection techniques, a plethora of different experimental tests of the validity of quantum mechanics -- and that of collapse models – has emerged. In the review article "Present status and future challenges of non-interferometric tests of collapse models" published on 17th February 2021 in Nature Physics, Prof. Angelo Bassi and the QMTS collegues Dr. Sandro Donadi and Dr. Luca Ferialdi, together with the TEQ partners from the Queen’s University Belfast, Dr. Carlesso and Prof. Paternostro, and from the University of Southampton, Prof. Ulbricht, describe the present status of the experimental bounds on collapse models, which range from single atoms up to cosmology. They discuss the technical challenges of state-of-art testing and draw the path for future avenues of dedicated experiments.

Find the paper here. 

INFN has opened 10 postdoctoral positions in theoretical physics. The gross salary is 36,000 Eur per year; each fellowship is initially granted for one year and may be extended for a second year. One of the fellowships, under the title “Fundamental Problems in Quantum Physics" is associated to the Bassi research group.

Applicants are expected to have a background in quantum mechanics, with a focus in quantum foundations, open quantum systems and related topics. The research project will involve one of the following subjects:

- Tests of models of spontaneous wave function collapse

- Gravitational decoherence

- Quantum-gravity interplay

- Decoherence and open quantum systems

Deadline: 9th November 2020

Link to the call: https://jobs.dsi.infn.it/borseassegni/pdf/getfile.php?filename=22425.pdf

Professor Angelo Bassi, alongside with other colleagues from Germany, Italy and Hungary, reach today, September 7, 2020, an important goal: the scientific journal Nature Physics publishes their paper "Underground test of gravity-related wave function collapse".

The team has tested a theory that suggests gravity is the force behind
quantum collapse and has found no evidence to support it. In their paper the researchers describe underground experiments they conducted to test the impact of gravity on wave functions and what their work showed them.

Find the paper here. 

The closing ceremony of ESOF2020 — EuroScience Open Forum featured the first Italian public demonstration of encrypted communication using Italian-made optical-fibre quantum technology. The presentation was carried out by the “Quantum Communications” group of the National Research Council (CNR) of Florence, Italy, thanks to the “Quantum FVG” Project, financed by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and coordinated by the University of Trieste, in the person of Professor Angelo Bassi. This communication consisted of an encrypted video call between Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who was on-location at ESOF at Trieste's Old Port, and the Rector of the University of Trieste Roberto Di Lenarda.

This communication highlights both the impact of quantum technology on security in communication and Italy's contribution to the development of this new technology in Europe. 

Watch the video of the demonstration (from minute 1:24:00) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk7o2CPOkmk

Read the article on La Repubblica

"The rebel physicist trying to fix quantum mechanics" is the title of the profile about one of Professor Angelo Bassi, that has been published in the New York Times Magazine. The article covers some of the open questions in foundational quantum mechanics and how his researches aim to solve them, while describing a personal and intimate side of prof. Bassi's life. 

Read the full article here.

The University of Trieste, in synergy with the TEQ project, offers to Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. students a research project aiming to address the practical challenges of quantum communication towards its full integration in the already existing fiber networks in Trieste. Quantum Cryptography or Quantum Key
Distribution (QKD) is nowadays the sole technology able to guarantee the unconditional security of communications. The researchers will study and implement QKD systems based on quantum light that will be tested in the Trieste's Lightnet fiber infrastructure.

The project is implemented in collaboration with CNR-INO of Firenze.

For more info see the poster below.