Researchers from the Physics Department of the Politecnico di Milano and the Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnologies of the Cnr have built a battery which, following the laws of quantum physics, has a recharge time that is inversely related to the battery capacity.
Tersilla Virgili (Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnologies of the National Research Council Cnr-Ifn) and Giulio Cerullo (Physics Department of the Politecnico di Milano) have shown that it is possible to manufacture a type of quantum battery where the charging power increases faster by increasing the battery capacity.
The fabricated device is a microcavity in which the active material consists of organic molecules dispersed in an inert matrix.
Each molecule represents a unit that can exist in a quantum superposition state of two energy levels (fundamental and excited), similar to the way a qubit, the basic unit of quantum information, can be both 0 and 1 simultaneously in quantum computers. By constructing the quantum battery in a way that units can exist in superposition, the total system can behave collectively. This behaviour, known as quantum coherence, allows the units to act cooperatively, giving rise to a hyper-fast charge that depends on the number of molecule-units.
Prof. Giulio Cerullo
This new technology could find possible applications in devices such as wireless chargers, solar cells and cameras.
