Australian researchers have built what they claim is the world's first proof-of-concept quantum battery, a device that uses quantum mechanics to store energy and could eventually charge almost instantaneously.
The prototype, developed by scientists at the CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, is charged wirelessly with a laser and demonstrates a full charge-discharge cycle, according to lead researcher Dr James Quach.
Unlike conventional batteries, where charging time increases with size, quantum batteries become faster as they grow larger, a property called 'collective effects'. Dr Quach explained that this could lead to extremely rapid charging for larger devices.
The current prototype takes quadrillionths of a second (femtoseconds) to charge and stores energy for nanoseconds, which Dr Quach described as a major improvement over previous attempts. However, its capacity is only a few billion electron volts, too small to power useful devices.
Future applications could include powering quantum computers, drones charged in flight, or electric cars charged on the go. Professor Andrew White of the University of Queensland, who was not involved in the research, called the work 'a really nice piece of work showing that the quantum battery is more than an idea'. He noted that quantum computers are likely to be the first practical use.
