Quantum device detects all units of electricity at once– www.newscientist.com

When you measure electricity, you need to find the flow’s current in amperes, its resistance in ohms and its voltage in volts. But before even getting started, researchers must agree on the size of each of these units. So far, this has required two separate quantum devices, and often, the costly and complicated task of visiting two separate laboratories.

Now, Jason Underwood at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Maryland and his colleagues have shown how we could instead characterise these units using a single device. “The idea of integrating those two quantum standards was always sort of a holy grail,” he says. “It’s been a long time coming. Like Sisyphus, we just kept pushing the rock up the hill.”