We did a breakthrough ‘speed test’ in quantum tunnelling, and here’s why that’s exciting

When you deal with things at the quantum scale, where things are very small, the world is quite fuzzy and bizarre in comparison to our everyday experiences.

For example, we can’t ordinarily walk through solid walls. But at the quantum scale, when a particle encounters a seemingly insurmountable barrier, it can sometimes pass through to the other side – a process known asquantumtunnelling.

But how fast a particle could tunnel through a barrier was always a puzzle.

In work published today inNature we’ve solved part of the problem.

Why is that important? It’s a breakthrough that could have an impact on future technologies we see in our homes, at work or elsewhere.