Quantum Focus series, session 1 of 3—In this webinar, we explore how recent advances in quantum hardware and algorithms are revolutionizing quantum chemistry, a field that underpins vital R&D in drug development and materials science. This timely and accessible webinar walks the audience through the limitations of classical computational methods and how quantum computers promise to overcome them—especially for complex, strongly correlated molecular systems that defy today’s simulation capabilities.

This webinar will offer insight into the fundamental physics of extreme confinement, and guidance for the design of next generation nanofluidic devices. It is aimed at physicists, chemists, materials scientists, and engineers eager to explore the surprising and exploitable behaviors of matter at the smallest scales.

In this webinar, we will outline inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and inertial fusion energy (IFE) principles, including indirect- and direct-drive schemes; review achievements; and discuss steps toward practical IFE.

Despite a half-century of advancements, global MRI accessibility remains limited and uneven, hindering its full potential in healthcare. Initially, MRI development focused on devices with low magnetic fields—around 0.05 Tesla—but progress halted after the introduction of the more accurate 1.5 Tesla whole-body superconducting scanner in 1983. We developed low-cost MRI scanners that Uses permanent 0.05 Tesla magnets and deep learning.

Directed energy weapons (DEWs) based on lasers and microwaves have been in development for over 60 years but until recently had little military utility. The latest DEWs are electrically powered and are small enough and efficient enough for operation on vehicles. Now military services around the world are building DEWs as tactical weapons and deploying them in real military operations. We explain what's new about the technology and show examples of the new DEWs in the field.

In this webinar, we will introduce the fundamentals of X-ray imaging and present the current state-of-the-art in nanoscale tomography. We will focus on a technique called ptychographic X-ray computed tomography and our recent innovations that enabled the highest 3D imaging resolution to-date.

In this webinar, we describe a new approach to directly see the physics inside a DAC at ultrahigh pressures. The basic idea is deceptively simple: We directly integrate a thin layer of nitrogen–vacancy defects, which serve as quantum sensors, into the diamond surface. We demonstrate the ability to perform optical diffraction-limited imaging of both stress fields and magnetism, with the latter allowing us to image the magnetic field expulsion associated with superconductivity. …

We will present a breakthrough approach that overcomes those limitations using metasurfaces—ultrathin, nanostructured optical elements that precisely shape light at the subwavelength scale. We demonstrate the first experimental realization of a compact, single-shot, and complete Mueller matrix imaging system, enabled by two carefully engineered metasurfaces: one to generate structured polarization illumination and another to perform full polarization analysis.

Following recent advances in photonics design, fabrication, and heterogenous integration, we demonstrate that a tunable continuous wave Titanium:sapphire (Ti:sapphire) laser can be miniaturized into sub-cubic centimeter volume together with its pump.…

Lithium-ion batteries contain porous electrodes separated by an ion-permeable membrane. Those electrodes are manufactured by coating metal foils with battery slurry, a complex fluid that contains the raw materials that make the batteries function. We will present the foundations of a physics-based understanding of battery slurry behavior under flow, with a special emphasis on evolving material microstructure. We will take a close look at the unique tools that can explore this microstructure at the relevant length scale and in the relevant environment. We will show that these findings have relevance to the prediction of both the battery slurry rheology and the coated properties of battery electrodes, thereby improving the efficiency of battery manufacturing.