Quantum mechanical effects are known to be easily disrupted by disturbances from the surrounding environment, commonly referred to as noise. To minimize these disturbances, physicists often study these effects in small and carefully controlled systems, in which environmental noise can be minimized.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University set out to study quantum effects in macroscopic spin ensembles, systems comprised of large numbers of spins (spins is the intrinsic angular momentum of elementary particles). Their paper, published in Nature Physics, introduces a new approach to directly observe quantum spin fluctuations in macroscopic spin ensembles, precisely monitoring their evolution over time.
"Quantum effects are typically observed and exploited in microscopic systems, where individual qubits can be precisely controlled and measured," Alexander O. Sushkov, senior author of the paper, told Phys.org.
"However, larger qubit ensembles offer significant advantages for sensing and metrology applications. The challenge is that as you scale up quantum systems, classical noise usually overwhelms quantum effects—there's an inherent tension between the sensitivity gained from larger experiments and the ability to maintain quantum behavior."
To read more, click here.