In an intriguing advancement for quantum physics, MIT researchers have captured the first images of individual atoms freely interacting in space — a feat that until now was only predicted theoretically.

The new imaging technique, developed by a team led by Professor Martin Zwierlein, allows scientists to visualize real-time quantum behavior by momentarily freezing atoms in motion and illuminating them with precisely tuned lasers. Their results, published in Physical Review Letters, reveal how bosons bunch together and fermions pair up in free space — phenomena crucial to understanding superconductivity and other quantum states of matter.

“We are able to see single atoms in these interesting clouds of atoms and what they are doing in relation to each other, which is beautiful,” said Zwierlein in a press statement.

Using their method — called “atom-resolved microscopy” — the team was able to trap atom clouds with a loose laser, briefly immobilize them with a lattice of light, and then image their positions via fluorescence. This approach allowed the researchers to observe quantum behaviors at the level of individual atoms for the first time.

The MIT group directly visualized sodium atoms (bosons) bunching together in a shared quantum wave — a vivid confirmation of the de Broglie wave theory — and lithium atoms (fermions) pairing up despite their natural repulsion, a key mechanism underlying superconductivity.

“This kind of pairing is the basis of a mathematical construction people came up with to explain experiments. But when you see pictures like these, it’s showing in a photograph, an object that was discovered in the mathematical world,” said co-author Richard Fletcher in a press statement.

Two other research teams — one led by Nobel laureate Wolfgang Ketterle at MIT, and another by Tarik Yefsah at École Normale Supérieure — also reported similar quantum imaging breakthroughs in the same journal issue, marking a significant moment in the experimental visualization of quantum mechanics.

The MIT team plans to expand the technique to probe more exotic quantum behaviors, including quantum Hall states. “Now we can verify whether these cartoons of quantum Hall states are actually real,” Zwierlein added. “Because they are pretty bizarre states.”

In a major scientific breakthrough, researchers at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru, India, have developed a novel, cost-effective, metal-free porous organic catalyst that enables efficient hydrogen (H₂) production by harnessing mechanical energy. This innovative work could provide a significant boost to India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission and global efforts toward clean energy.

The team, led by Professor Tapas K. Maji from the Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit at JNCASR—an autonomous institution under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India—has designed a donor-acceptor-based covalent-organic framework (COF) that functions as a highly efficient piezocatalyst for water splitting. The findings have been published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

“This discovery breaks the traditional notion of solely employing heavy or transition metal-based ferroelectric materials as piezocatalysts for catalyzing water splitting reaction,” said Professor Maji in a press statement.

The COF, constructed using the donor molecule tris(4-aminophenyl)amine (TAPA) and the acceptor molecule pyromellitic dianhydride (PDA), showcases unique ferrielectric (FiE) ordering. Unlike conventional ferroelectric materials, which have limited surface charge and rapidly reach saturation, this FiE structure dramatically enhances the number of charge carriers within the framework’s porous surface. This enables more effective diffusion and interaction of water molecules, resulting in ultra-high hydrogen production yields.

Prof. Umesh V. Waghmare and his team, also at JNCASR, conducted theoretical analyses confirming that the COF’s unusual electronic structure fosters dipolar ordering, leading to lattice instability and FiE behavior. “These FiE dipoles interact with the flexible twisting molecular motion in the material, making them responsive to mechanical pressure,” said Prof. Waghmare. “As a result, the material can generate electron-hole pairs when mechanically stimulated, making it a highly efficient piezocatalyst.”

The research team also includes Ms. Adrija Ghosh, Ms. Surabhi Menon, Dr. Sandip Biswas, and Dr. Anupam Dey from JNCASR, with significant contributions from Dr. Supriya Sahoo and Prof. Ramamoorthy Boomishankar at IISER Pune, and Prof. Jan K. Zaręba from Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Poland.

The innovation offers a promising alternative to traditional oxide-based piezocatalysts and represents a leap forward in the sustainable production of hydrogen fuel. “The utilization of a cost-effective, metal-free system with a high production rate of H2 by harvesting mechanical energy opens up a new route to green H2 based on porous heterogeneous catalysts,” added Prof. Maji.

In a breakthrough that could accelerate the future of quantum computing, researchers at MIT have demonstrated the strongest nonlinear light-matter coupling ever recorded in a quantum system — a development that may enable quantum operations and measurements in mere nanoseconds.

This leap forward hinges on a novel superconducting circuit design featuring a device called the quarton coupler, invented by lead researcher Yufeng “Bright” Ye, PhD ’24. The technology enables interaction between photons (particles of light that carry quantum information) and artificial atoms (units that store quantum data), which is central to the speed and accuracy of quantum computers.

“Usually, you have to measure results between rounds of error correction, and slow readout can become a bottleneck,” Ye explained. “This could dramatically accelerate progress toward fault-tolerant quantum computing and practical real-world applications.”

Working with senior author Kevin O’Brien, associate professor and principal investigator at MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics, the team connected the quarton coupler to two superconducting qubits on a chip. One served as a photon emitter and the other as a storage atom, enabling extremely strong nonlinear interactions — about ten times stronger than previous demonstrations.

This means a quantum processor could potentially perform tenfold faster operations, allowing scientists to run more quantum error corrections during the brief window when qubits remain coherent. Error correction is essential in quantum computing, where fragile quantum states are easily disrupted.

The team’s findings, published in Nature Communications, demonstrate the foundational physics needed to achieve ultra-fast quantum readout, an essential step toward scalable and fault-tolerant quantum systems.

While this remains a proof of concept, researchers are now working to integrate additional electronic components — such as filters — to build practical readout circuits compatible with full-scale quantum systems. The team also reported success in achieving strong matter-matter coupling between qubits, which could further enhance future quantum operations.

“This isn’t the end — it’s the beginning of a new phase,” said O’Brien. “We now have a powerful physical tool, and the next step is engineering it into something that can be part of a real quantum computer.”

As scientists push toward building large-scale quantum processors, innovations like the quarton coupler bring them closer to unlocking new materials, revolutionizing machine learning, and solving problems beyond the reach of today’s fastest supercomputers.