Physicists found a way to spot quantum computing's most elusive building blocks — with light

Anyons sound like science fiction: particles that exist only inside certain materials, born from electrons moving together, and prized because they could make quantum computers far more reliable. The trouble is finding them. Theoretical physicists at Emory University, led by Luiz Santos with doctoral candidate Tianhong Lu, have worked out how a particular frequency of light can reveal an anyon's fingerprint and pinpoint where it sits in a material. The method, published in Physical Review Letters, gives experimentalists a sensor to hunt with — a necessary step before anyone can build with these strange particles.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: tech innovation