Quantum composer, fusion energy, navigation without GPS, war disrupts physics, nuclear jobs

Australian Institute of Physics Congress 2022

Listen to ‘Alice’s caffeine rush’ composed by quantum computer, Quanthoven

Find out what it means for quantum AI and understanding consciousness with Bob Coecke, Chief Scientist at Quantinuum, making quantum software and hardware, and Emeritus Professor at Wolfson College, Oxford.

Stories from the physics national congress in Adelaide.

Plus:

Fusion energy

What does the US government announcement mean? Nuclear physicists will be available to respond following the US announcement.

Australia’s leadership in quantum computing and quantum science today isn’t an accident

“It is the result of over sixty years of investment in the physical sciences in our universities and research agencies, and it gives us the opportunity to lead the world in new technologies, industries and jobs,” says Australia’s Chief Scientist, Cathy Foley. She’s just back from the US with insights from the Quantum World Congress in Washington DC.

Navigation without GPS, plus eruption detection

Using atoms cooled to a few millionths of degrees in free fall within a vacuum chamber.

Philippe Bouyer from Institute d’Optique in France and Quantum Delta in the Netherlands will talk about a compact 3D quantum accelerometer based on matter-wave interferometry.

Not only are they trialling it for navigation, they’re also using it to monitor gravity at Mount Etna in a one-year trial to see if it can detect changes in magma underground and predict an eruption.

Two extremes in a tiny device offer a path to new physics and new communication technologies

What happens when you take two extremes: (1) a powerful laser on one side, and (2) a few individual particles of light on the other side – and cram them into a device 1000 times smaller than the width of a human hair? Well, you might just get a key building block for future telecom,” says Alexander Solntsev from UTS.

Ukraine, Russia and 100 years of growth in physics

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has impacted physics collaboration around the world. Due to sanctions, many Russian physicists can’t publish with their western colleagues, slowing research at CERN and other international institutions. IUPAP is tackling the issue.

Established in 1922 as the world was rebuilding after the 1914-1918 war and the flu pandemic, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) has supported physics and physicists for 100 years and will support them for the next 100 years.

“They’re working to ensure that researchers in developing countries have equitable access to the large and expensive tools of modern physics, to improving gender equity. And now they’re working on new policy to deal with today’s science diplomacy challenges,” says former IUPAP president Bruce McKellar.

Conference web page: https://aip-congress.org.au
Media page: www.scienceinpublic.com.au