Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: computing – Page 15

Polymer waveguides show promise for reliable, high-capacity optical communication

Co-packaged optics (CPO) technology can integrate photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with electronic integrated circuits (EICs) like CPUs and GPUs on a single platform. This advanced technology has immense potential to improve data transmission efficiency within data centers and high-performance computing environments. CPO systems require a laser source for operation, which can be either integrated directly into the silicon photonic chips (integrated laser sources) or provided externally.

While integrated laser sources allow for dense CPO integration, ensuring consistent reliability can be challenging, which may affect overall system robustness. The use of external laser sources (ELS) in CPO, in comparison, offers improved system reliability.

Single-mode waveguides are crucial components of many PICs, where they help couple light from an external laser to the PIC or distribute optical signals within the system. They are cost-effective and mechanically flexible, besides being highly compatible with electrical circuits. Therefore, they show significant potential for use in CPO systems utilizing ELS.

Multiway Systems as Models to Understand Mind and Universe — a Conversation with Stephen Wolfram

Our earliest models of reality were expressed as static structures and geometry, until mathematicians of the 16th century came up with differential algebra, a framework which allowed us to capture aspects of the world as a dynamical system. The 20th century introduced the concept of computation, and we began to model the world through state transitions. Stephen Wolfram suggests that we may be about to enter a new paradigm: multicomputation. At the core of multicomputation is the non-deterministic Turing machine, one of the more arcane ideas of 20th century computer science. Unlike a deterministic Turing machine, it does not just transition from one state to the next, but to all possible states simultaneously, resulting in structures that emerge over the branching and merging of causal paths.

Stephen Wolfram studies the resulting multiway systems as a model for foundational physics. Multiway systems can also be used as an abstraction to understand biological and social processes, economic dynamics, and model-building itself.

In this conversation, we want to explore whether mental processes can be understood as multiway systems, and what the multicomputational perspective might imply for memory, perception, decision making and consciousness.

About the Guest: Stephen Wolfram is one of the most interesting and least boring thinkers of our time, well known for his unique contributions to computer science, theoretical physics and the philosophy of computation. Among other things, Stephen is the creator of the Wolfram Language (also known as Mathematica), the knowledge engine Wolfram|Alpha, the author of the books A New Kind of Science and A Project to Find the Fundamental Theory of Physics, and the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research.

We anticipate that this will be an intellectually fascinating discussion; please consider reading some of the following articles ahead of time:

The Concept of the Ruliad: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/11/the-concept-of-the-ruliad/

Continue reading “Multiway Systems as Models to Understand Mind and Universe — a Conversation with Stephen Wolfram” | >

Magnetic surface enables precise atomic migration at near absolute zero

Adatoms are single atoms that get adsorbed onto the surface of a solid material and are known to hop randomly from one spot to another. In a recent study published in Nature Communications, a group of scientists from Germany demonstrated that single atoms can be steered in a chosen direction at near absolute zero temperatures (4 Kelvin), provided the surface being used is magnetic in nature—a discovery that can open up new possibilities for precise control of atomic motion, a sought-after ability in the field of nanotechnology, data storage and functional materials.

The researchers placed individual cobalt, rhodium, and iridium atoms on a 1-atom-thick manganese surface to create a magnetically well-defined surface and studied the migration behavior of adatoms using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) at a temperature of 4 K.

According to established findings from nonmagnetic surfaces, atomic movement is usually governed by surface symmetry. In a hexagonal manganese monolayer like the one used in the study, atoms would be expected to migrate randomly in any of six directions. Yet in a surprising twist, researchers found that when a short, localized voltage pulse from the STM was applied, the atoms consistently moved in just one direction.

Old smartphones can have a new life as tiny data centers

Researchers at the University of Tartu Institute of Computer Science introduce a novel approach to reducing electronic waste and advancing sustainable data processing: turning old smartphones into tiny data centers.

Each year, more than 1.2 billion smartphones are produced globally. The production of electronic devices is not only energy-intensive but also consumes valuable natural resources. Additionally, the manufacturing and delivery processes release a significant amount of CO₂ into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, devices are aging faster than ever—users replace their still-functional phones on average every 2 to 3 years. At best, old devices are recycled; at worst, they end up in landfills.

Although the most sustainable solution would be to change and consider more carefully whether every new model truly requires replacing the old one, this is easier said than done. Rapid technological development quickly renders older devices obsolete. Therefore, alternative solutions are needed—such as extending the lifespan of devices by giving them an entirely new purpose.

A programmable solution for higher-speed wireless communication networks and low-cost microwave sensing

Researchers have published the demonstration of a fully-integrated single-chip microwave photonics system, combining optical and microwave signal processing on a single silicon chip.

The chip integrates high-speed modulators, optical filters, photodetectors, as well as transfer-printed lasers, making it a compact, self-contained and programmable solution for high-frequency .

This breakthrough can replace bulky and power-hungry components, enabling faster wireless networks, low-cost microwave sensing, and scalable deployment in applications like 5G/6G, , and .

Physicists observe a new form of magnetism for the first time

MIT physicists have demonstrated a new form of magnetism that could one day be harnessed to build faster, denser, and less power-hungry “spintronic” memory chips.

The new magnetic state is a mash-up of two main forms of magnetism: the ferromagnetism of everyday fridge magnets and compass needles, and antiferromagnetism, in which materials have magnetic properties at the microscale yet are not macroscopically magnetized.

Now, the MIT team has demonstrated a new form of magnetism, termed “p-wave magnetism.”

The quantum physics of forgetting information

In a study by TU Wien and FU Berlin, researchers have measured what happens when quantum physical information is lost. This clarifies important connections between thermodynamics, information theory and quantum physics.

Heat and information—these are two very different concepts that, at first glance, appear to have nothing to do with each other. Heat and energy are central concepts in thermodynamics, an important field of physics and even one of its cornerstones. Information theory, on the other hand, is an abstract topic in mathematics.

But as early as the 1960s, physicist Rolf Landauer was able to show that the two are closely related: the deletion of information is inevitably linked to the exchange of energy. You cannot delete a data storage device without releasing heat to the outside world.