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Category: computing – Page 17

Chip-scale soliton microcombs reach femtosecond precision

Laser frequency combs are light sources that produce evenly spaced, sharp lines across the spectrum, resembling the teeth of a comb. They serve as precise rulers for measuring time and frequency, and have become essential tools in applications such as lidar, high-speed optical communications, and space navigation. Traditional frequency combs rely on large, lab-based lasers. However, recent advancements have led to the development of chip-scale soliton microcombs, which generate ultrashort pulses of light within microresonators.

One of the key challenges for soliton microcombs is jitter, which refers to tiny fluctuations in the timing of their light pulses. These fluctuations, caused by or internal instabilities, can degrade the precision and reliability of systems that rely on exact timing. For example, in lidar, jitter can cause uncertainty in distance measurements, and in high-speed data transmission, it can introduce signal distortion and reduce data integrity.

As reported in Advanced Photonics Nexus, an international research team has addressed this problem by developing a new platform based on dispersion-managed (DM) silicon nitride (Si3N4) microresonators operating at an 89 GHz repetition rate.

Intel’s Memory Leak Nightmare: 5,000 Bytes per Second in the Hands of Hackers

Computer scientists at ETH Zurich have uncovered a serious flaw in Intel processors that could let attackers steal sensitive information by exploiting how modern chips predict upcoming actions. Using specially designed sequences of instructions, hackers can bypass security boundaries and gradually read the entire memory of a shared processor. This vulnerability affects a wide range of Intel chips used in personal computers, laptops, and cloud servers.

Eco-friendly advance brings CO₂ ‘breathing’ batteries closer to reality

Scientists at the University of Surrey have made a breakthrough in eco-friendly batteries that not only store more energy but could also help tackle greenhouse gas emissions. Lithium–CO2 “breathing” batteries release power while capturing carbon dioxide, offering a greener alternative that may one day outperform today’s lithium-ion batteries.

Until now, lithium-CO2 batteries have faced setbacks in efficiency—wearing out quickly, failing to recharge and relying on expensive rare materials such as platinum.

However, researchers from Surrey have found a way to overcome these issues by using a low-cost catalyst called cesium phosphomolybdate (CPM). Using computer modeling and , tests showed this simple change allowed the battery to store significantly more energy, charge with far less power and run for over 100 cycles.

Quantum heat circuits: A diode framework for quantum thermal transistors

Transistors are the fundamental building blocks behind today’s electronic revolution, powering everything from smartphones to powerful servers by controlling the flow of electrical currents. But imagine a parallel world, where we could apply the same level of control and sophistication—not to electricity, but to heat.

This is precisely the frontier being explored through quantum thermal , devices designed to replicate electronic transistor functionality at the quantum scale, but for heat.

The rapidly growing field of quantum thermodynamics has been making impressive strides, exploring how heat and energy behave when quantum mechanical effects dominate. Innovations such as quantum thermal diodes, capable of directing in a specific direction, and quantum thermal transistors, which amplify heat flows similarly to how electronic transistors amplify electric signals, are groundbreaking examples of this progress.

Overlooked electron property opens up new avenues for orbitronics

The orbital angular momentum of electrons has long been considered a minor physical phenomenon, suppressed in most crystals and largely overlooked. Scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich have now discovered that in certain materials it is not only preserved but can even be actively controlled. This is due to a property of the crystal structure called chirality, which also influences many other processes in nature.

The discovery has the potential to lead to a new class of electronic components capable of transmitting information with exceptional robustness and energy efficiency.

From electronics to spintronics, and now to orbitronics: In classical electronics, it is primarily the charge of the electron that counts. In modern approaches such as and spintronics, the focus has shifted to the electron’s spin.

Researchers Used a One-Atom Quantum Computer to Simulate Real Molecules Over Time

We also simulated “open-system” dynamics, where the molecule interacts with its environment. This is typically a much harder problem for classical computers.

By injecting controlled noise into the ion’s environment, we replicated how real molecules lose energy. This showed environmental complexity can also be captured by quantum simulation.

Computational strategy reveals potential new targets for Alzheimer’s drugs

The study revealed genes and cellular pathways that haven’t been linked to Alzheimer’s before, including one involved in DNA repair. Identifying new drug targets is critical because many of the Alzheimer’s drugs that have been developed to this point haven’t been as successful as hoped.

Working with researchers at Harvard Medical School, the team used data from humans and to identify cellular pathways linked to neurodegeneration. This allowed them to identify additional pathways that may be contributing to the development of Alzheimer’s.

Invisible currents at the edge: Study shows how magnetic particles reveal hidden rule of nature

If you’ve ever watched a flock of birds move in perfect unison or seen ripples travel across a pond, you’ve witnessed nature’s remarkable ability to coordinate motion. Recently, a team of scientists and engineers at Rice University discovered a similar phenomenon on a microscopic scale, where tiny magnetic particles driven by rotating fields spontaneously move along the edges of clusters driven by invisible “edge currents” that follow the rules of an unexpected branch of physics.

The research is published in the journal Physical Review Research.

“When I saw the initial data—with streams of particles moving faster along the edges than in the middle—I said ‘these are edge flows’ and we got to work exploring this,” said corresponding author Evelyn Tang, assistant professor of physics and astronomy. “What’s very exciting is that we can explain their emergence using ideas from topological physics, a field that became prominent due to quantum computers and .”