【文章标题】：Quantum battery upends the rules of charging 量子电池颠覆充电规则
【文章正文】： ‘It’s very counterintuitive’: The quantum batteries that upend the rules of charging “这非常反直觉”：颠覆充电规则的量子电池
Scientists have made the world’s first quantum battery prototype and, unlike conventional batteries, it charges faster the larger it gets. Could these bizarre devices one day power quantum computing – or even your phone? 科学家制造出了世界上第一个量子电池原型，与传统电池不同，它的体积越大，充电速度越快。这些奇异的设备有朝一日能否为量子计算提供动力——甚至为你的手机供电？
Everyone knows that the larger the battery, the longer it takes to charge – that’s why it can take several hours to charge a laptop and typically all night to charge an electric vehicle. 每个人都知道，电池越大，充电时间越长——这就是为什么给笔记本电脑充电可能需要几个小时，而给电动汽车充电通常需要一整夜。
That’s the world we’re familiar with, anyway. But in the world of the very small, different rules apply. Quantum mechanics (the science of matter at atomic and subatomic scales) “sort of flips [that] on its head”, says James Quach, a quantum science researcher at Csiro, Australia’s national science agency. 无论如何，这是我们熟悉的世界。但在极小的世界里，不同的规则适用。量子力学（研究原子和亚原子尺度物质的科学）“有点颠覆了这一点”，澳大利亚国家科学机构 Csiro 的量子科学研究员詹姆斯·夸奇说。
Quach is working to create a quantum battery that defies common sense by charging faster the bigger it gets. Just as some expect quantum computers to one day revolutionise computing, Quach argues that quantum batteries could be similarly disruptive. 夸奇正在努力制造一种量子电池，它违背常识，体积越大充电越快。正如一些人期望量子计算机有朝一日彻底改变计算一样，夸奇认为量子电池也可能具有类似的颠覆性。
In March 2026, his team made an important breakthrough when they unveiled what they say is the world’s first working quantum battery prototype. 2026 年 3 月，他的团队取得了一项重要突破，他们公布了据称是世界上第一个可工作的量子电池原型。
The field is still in its infancy, and quantum technology is inherently tricksy. But some scientists say these batteries could one day power quantum devices, while the strongest advocates insist they could even be used to charge everyday devices like phones. 这一领域仍处于起步阶段，量子技术本身就难以捉摸。但一些科学家表示，这些电池有朝一日可以为量子设备供电，而最坚定的倡导者则坚持认为它们甚至可以用于为手机等日常设备充电。
Others, though, remain strongly sceptical about their real-world viability. 不过，其他人对其在现实世界中的可行性仍持强烈怀疑态度。
Subverting energy limits 颠覆能量极限
Conventional batteries rely on chemical reactions that send 10 billion billion electrons or more rushing through the device they’re powering. It sounds impressive, but some now see the technology as outdated. 传统电池依赖化学反应，让 1000 亿亿个或更多的电子冲过它们所供电的设备。这听起来很厉害，但有些人现在认为这项技术已经过时。
“Despite major technological improvements, modern batteries still rely on electrochemical processes first explored over two centuries ago,” says Dario Ferraro, associate professor of physics at the University of Genova, Italy. “尽管技术有了重大改进，现代电池仍然依赖于两个多世纪前首次探索的电化学过程，”意大利热那亚大学物理学副教授达里奥·费拉罗说。
This has led some researchers to look towards quantum batteries – batteries that are powered by quantum effects, rather than chemical reactions. 这促使一些研究人员将目光投向量子电池——由量子效应而非化学反应驱动的电池。
The world of the very small is an overwhelmingly odd one. And quantum mechanics is no stranger to mind-bending concepts, from “entangled” particles that influence each other at great distances to time that flows backwards. 极小的世界是一个极其奇异的世界。量子力学对令人费解的概念并不陌生，从远距离相互影响的“纠缠”粒子到倒流的时间。
The research that laid the groundwork for quantum batteries was initially driven by curiosity about which laws of classical physics might be upended in the quantum world. A milestone paper in 2015 showed that quantum entanglement means quantum batteries might charge – and discharge – more efficiently than conventional ones. 为量子电池奠定基础的研究最初是出于对经典物理学中哪些定律可能在量子世界中被颠覆的好奇心。2015 年的一篇里程碑式论文表明，量子纠缠意味着量子电池可能比传统电池更高效地充电和放电。
“The key point is that quantum batteries are not about storing a great amount of energy, but about delivering it faster and with greater control,” says Ferraro. “关键在于，量子电池的重点不是储存大量能量，而是更快地输送能量并实现更好的控制，”费拉罗说。
A new prototype 新原型
Quach has tested one way of harnessing these quantum effects to power a battery. 夸奇测试了一种利用这些量子效应为电池供电的方法。
He uses an optical microcavity, an experimental set-up where two tiny mirrors are placed 100nm apart (a width about a thousand times thinner than a human hair). He fills the tiny space between the mirrors with organic dye molecules, then beams in a laser. 他使用一个光学微腔，这是一种实验装置，其中两面微小的镜子相距 100 纳米（宽度约为人类头发丝的千分之一）。他在镜子之间的微小空间里填充有机染料分子，然后射入激光。
Using this method, the light and the molecules become strongly coupled, forming hybrid light-matter states, which enhances the system’s ability to absorb and store energy – an effect known as superabsorption. 通过这种方法，光和分子发生强耦合，形成光-物质混合态，这增强了系统吸收和储存能量的能力——这种效应被称为超吸收。
It’s superabsorption that’s responsible for the battery’s most surprising property. In classical physics, molecules are little individualists – each acting on its own and absorbing energy at a rate independent of the molecules around it. But with quantum effects, they’re a little more collectivist: they “act in unison and synergise”, says Quach. “So that the rate at which you can absorb energy increases with the number of molecules there are.” 正是超吸收造成了这种电池最令人惊讶的特性。在经典物理学中，分子是小小的个体主义者——每个分子都独立行动，以与周围分子无关的速率吸收能量。但在量子效应下，它们更具集体主义色彩：它们“协同一致地行动”，夸奇说。“因此，你能吸收能量的速率会随着分子数量的增加而提高。”
It means that the more molecules there are (i.e. the bigger the battery) the faster it charges. Quach’s prototype took femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second) to charge, and stored the energy for nanoseconds, about six orders of magnitudes longer. 这意味着分子越多（即电池越大），充电速度就越快。夸奇的原型充电耗时飞秒（千万亿分之一秒），并将能量储存了纳秒，大约长六个数量级。
This feat was first demonstrated by Quach and his team in 2022. In March 2026, they added a new layer, managing to extract an electrical current from the prototype. At greater intensities, this current could potentially be used to charge devices. 这一壮举最初由夸奇及其团队在 2022 年展示。2026 年 3 月，他们增加了一个新环节，成功从原型中提取出电流。在更高的强度下，这种电流有可能用于为设备充电。
Quach’s optical microcavity method isn’t the only way to make a quantum battery. Another approach, for example, uses superconductive materials – already widely used in quantum computing. 夸奇的光学微腔方法并不是制造量子电池的唯一途径。例如，另一种方法使用超导材料——这种材料已广泛用于量子计算。
One big advantage of Quach’s design, though, is that it works at room temperature. Superconductive designs only work at cryogenic temperatures starting below -150C (-238F). “This is fine for quantum computers, but not so useful to power your mobile phone,” says Quach. 不过，夸奇设计的一大优势是它能在室温下工作。超导设计只能在低于 -150°C（-238°F）的低温下工作。“这对量子计算机来说没问题，但用来给你的手机供电就不太有用了，”夸奇说。
“If the goal is proving the quantum charging advantage as real physics… the optical microcavity route is the strongest bet,” says “如果目标是证明量子充电优势是真实物理……光学微腔路线是最有力的选择，”说