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Category: computing – Page 3

Focusing and defocusing light without a lens: First demonstration of the structured Montgomery effect in free space

Applied physicists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated a new way to structure light in custom, repeatable, three-dimensional patterns, all without the use of traditional optical elements like lenses and mirrors. Their breakthrough provides experimental evidence of a peculiar natural phenomenon that had been confined mostly to theory.

Researchers from the lab of Federico Capasso, the Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering, report in Optica the first experimental demonstration of the little-known Montgomery effect, in which a coherent beam of light seemingly vanishes, then sharply refocuses itself over and over, in free space, at perfectly placed distances. This lensless, repeatable patterning of light could lay the groundwork for powerful new tools in many areas including microscopy, sensing, and quantum computing.

This effect had been predicted mathematically in the 1960s but never observed under controlled lab conditions. The new work underscores not only that the effect is real, but that it can be precisely engineered and tuned.

Real-time single-event position detection using high-radiation-tolerance GaN

Silicon semiconductors are widely used as particle detectors; however, their long-term operation is constrained by performance degradation in high-radiation environments. Researchers at University of Tsukuba have demonstrated real-time, two-dimensional position detection of individual charged particles using a gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor with superior radiation tolerance.

Silicon (Si)-based devices are widely used in electrical and electronic applications; however, prolonged exposure to high radiation doses leads to performance degradation, malfunction, and eventual failure. These limitations create a strong demand for alternative semiconductor materials capable of operating reliably in harsh environments, including high-energy accelerator experiments, nuclear-reactor containment systems, and long-duration lunar or deep-space missions.

Wide-bandgap semiconductors, characterized by strong atomic bonding, offer the radiation tolerance required under such conditions. Among these materials, gallium nitride (GaN)—commonly employed in blue light-emitting diodes and high-frequency, high-power electronic devices—has not previously been demonstrated in detectors capable of two-dimensional particle-position sensing for particle and nuclear physics applications.

Massive Quantum Leap: New Tech Could Enable 100,000-Qubit Computers

They combined optical tweezers with metasurfaces to trap more than 1,000 atoms, with the potential to capture hundreds of thousands more. Quantum computers will only surpass classical machines if they can operate with far more quantum bits, known as qubits. Today’s most advanced systems contain r

Russian hackers exploit recently patched Microsoft Office bug in attacks

Ukraine’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) says that Russian hackers are exploiting CVE-2026–21509, a recently patched vulnerability in multiple versions of Microsoft Office.

On January 26, Microsoft released an emergency out-of-band security update marking CVE-2026–21509 as an actively exploited zero-day flaw.

CERT-UA detected the distribution of malicious DOC files exploiting the flaw, themed around EU COREPER consultations in Ukraine, just three days after Microsoft’s alert.

Epistasis study uncovers genetic interactions linked to heart disease

Euan Ashley’s lab explores the intricate interactions of gene variants. Tiny “typos,” or genetic mutations, can sneak into segments of DNA. Many of these are harmless, but some can cause health problems. Two or more genes can team up and change the outcome of a physical or molecular trait. This phenomenon, known as epistasis, occurs through complex interactions between genes that are functionally related—such as those that support protein creation.

Identifying these group dynamics provides crucial clues to how genetic diseases manifest and should be treated. But they’re not easily detected and often fly under the radar.

To help root out these connections, Ashley, MB ChB, DPhil, professor of genetics and of biomedical data science, and a team of scientists, including co-corresponding author Bin Yu, Ph.D., a professor of statistics and of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed computational techniques to identify and understand the hidden ways epistasis influences inherited diseases.

Telecommunications beyond 6G: the first standalone spin-wave chip with a built-in magnetic field

Milan, 13th January 2025 — The Politecnico di Milano has created the first integrated and fully tunable device based on spin waves, opening up new possibilities for the telecommunications of the future, far beyond current 5G and 6G standards. The study, published in the journal Advanced Materials, was conducted by a research group led by Riccardo Bertacco of the Department of Physics of the Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with Philipp Pirro of Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität and Silvia Tacchi of Istituto Officina dei Materiali — CNR-IOM.

Magnonics is an emerging technology that uses spin waves – collective excitations of electronic spins in magnetic materials – as an alternative to electrical signals. The spread of this technology has been restricted until now by the need for an external magnetic field, which has prevented it being incorporated into chips.

The new device developed at the Politecnico overcomes this hurdle: it is miniaturised (100 × 150 square micrometres, so much smaller than current radiofrequency signal processing devices based on acoustic waves); it is fully integrated on silicon – and therefore compatible with existing electronic platforms, and it functions without external magnets, thanks to an innovative combination of permanent SmCo micromagnets and magnetic flux concentrators.

Quantis QRNG Chips

Quantum smartphone chip.

IDQ’s QRNG chip is available in six models, depending on size, performance, power consumption and certifications, in order to fit various industry-specific needs. All IDQ QRNG chips have received NIST Entropy Source Validation (ESV) certification on the independently and identically distributed (IID) entropy estimation track SP 800-90B.

ID Quantique is the first company to achieve an ESV certificate with a quantum entropy source and IID estimation track. Such randomness provides the most trusted random keys for encryption. Since October 2022 it has been mandatory for cryptographic modules aiming for FIPS 140–3 certification to have an ESV validated entropy source. This ESV IID Certificate #63 will also facilitate IDQ’s customers who integrate IDQ’s Chips into their own devices to go through the NIST’s Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP).

Substituting stereotactic body radiation therapy boost for brachytherapy in Mayo protocol for peri-hilar cholangiocarcinoma

Blood vessels are less like straight pipes and more like a crowded city road map, with turns, forks, and sudden choke points that can change how traffic moves. For a long time, many lab built vessel models skipped that complexity and relied on simple, straight channels, even though real vessels rarely behave that neatly.

Researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University are trying to close that gap with a customizable vessel-chip method. The goal is to recreate the kinds of shapes that matter in disease, so experiments on blood flow and potential treatments reflect what happens in the body more closely and can better support drug discovery.

Vessel-chips are engineered microfluidic devices that mimic human vasculature on a microscopic scale. Instead of studying blood flow in animals or oversimplified lab setups, scientists can use these chips to examine how fluid forces move through vessel-like structures in a controlled environment. Because the design can be tailored, the platform can also support patient-focused studies, which is especially useful when small differences in anatomy may affect how disease develops or how a therapy performs.

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