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A team of scientists in Australia claim to have stumbled on a breakthrough discovery that will have “major implications” for the future of quantum computing.

Describing the find as a “happy accident,” engineers at the University of New South Wales Sydney found a way to control the nucleus of an atom using electric fields rather than magnetic fields—which they have claimed could now open up a “treasure trove of discoveries and applications.”

Morello and colleagues studied an antimony nucleus embedded in silicon. The larger antimony nucleus has higher spin than phosphorus. So, in a magnetic field, it has not just two basic states but eight, ranging from pointing in the same direction as the field to pointing in the opposite direction.

In addition, the distribution of electric charge within the nucleus isn’t uniform, with more charge around the poles than the equator. That uneven charge distribution gives experimenters another handle on the nucleus in addition to its spin and magnetism. They can grab it with an oscillating electric field and controllably ease it from one spin state to another or into combinations of any two. All it takes is applying an electric field of the right frequency with a simple electrode, the researchers report.

The researchers discovered the effect by accident, Morello says. For reasons that have nothing to do with quantum computing, they had wanted to study how the antimony nucleus embedded in a silicon chip would react to jolts of the oscillating magnetic field generated by a wire on the chip. But the wire melted and broke, turning the current-carrying wire into a charge-collecting electrode that instead generated an oscillating electric field.

Scientists have accidentally solved a decades-old quantum puzzle that could lead to new breakthroughs in entirely different kinds of computers. The breakthrough discovery not only solves a mystery that has perplexed scientists for more than half a century, but could allow researchers new capabilities when they are building quantum computers and sensors. It means that.

Scientists in Australia have developed a new approach to reducing the errors that plague experimental quantum computers; a step that could remove a critical roadblock preventing them scaling up to full working machines.

By taking advantage of the infinite geometric space of a particular quantum system made up of bosons, the researchers, led by Dr. Arne Grimsmo from the University of Sydney, have developed quantum error correction codes that should reduce the number of physical quantum switches, or qubits, required to scale up these machines to a useful size.

“The beauty of these codes is they are ‘platform agnostic’ and can be developed to work with a wide range of quantum hardware systems,” Dr. Grimsmo said.

A happy accident in the laboratory has led to a breakthrough discovery that not only solved a problem that stood for more than half a century, but has major implications for the development of quantum computers and sensors. In a study published today in Nature, a team of engineers at UNSW Sydney has done what a celebrated scientist first suggested in 1961 was possible, but has eluded everyone since: controlling the nucleus of a single atom using only electric fields.

“This discovery means that we now have a pathway to build quantum computers using single-atom spins without the need for any oscillating magnetic field for their operation,” says UNSW’s Scientia Professor of Quantum Engineering Andrea Morello. “Moreover, we can use these nuclei as exquisitely precise sensors of electric and magnetic fields, or to answer fundamental questions in quantum science.”

That a nuclear spin can be controlled with electric, instead of magnetic fields, has far-reaching consequences. Generating magnetic fields requires large coils and high currents, while the laws of physics dictate that it is difficult to confine magnetic fields to very small spaces—they tend to have a wide area of influence. Electric fields, on the other hand, can be produced at the tip of a tiny electrode, and they fall off very sharply away from the tip. This will make control of individual atoms placed in nanoelectronic devices much easier.

Sagnac interferometer has the potential to outperform today’s chip-based technologies.

Journalist Chip Walter visited our friends at Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library earlier this month to discuss his new book, “Immortality, Inc.” Walter discusses the resources (both the brilliant people and astonishing amount of money) being dedicated to seeing if people do, in fact, have to die.

In the era of modern world, medicals advances are evident everywhere. Recently, a team of doctors, researchers and scientists have collaborated to create an electronic biosensor which can be incorporated inside a brain to measure or determine the pH, temperature, flow rates and pressure of the brain. Moreover, it dissolves when no longer needed without the need of any surgical procedure. It is widely applicable in Neuroscience field as brain trauma and injuries kill around 50,000 people per year in the USA alone. These kinds of injuries often cause the brain to swell, which constricts the flow of blood and oxygen, and can lead to permanent damage. So surgeons need reliable ways of monitoring the pressure inside their patients’ head. Earlier, sensors that existed were usually large, heavy and solid, thus had to be removed once the patient recovered. But bioresorbable wireless brain sensors are light, handy and could be easily inserted inside the brain to monitor intracranial pressure and temperature. Once the implantable device is not needed, it is absorbed by the body, eliminating the need of surgically removing the device.

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Wireless brain sensors are devices that help monitoring the temperature, detecting the intracranial pressure, and record brain signaling in the form of brain waves. The essential aim of this wireless brain sensor is of securing the person from emergency situations. The devices are primarily used for patients experiencing conditions such as sleep disorders, traumatic brain injury, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological conditions. These devices aid in observing and monitoring the neurological deviations and provide support for improving the cognitive functionalities. Accessibility of these sensors is easy from a remote area through wireless connectivity and be integrated with smart phones, tablets and computers, consequently be monitored intermittently from a homecare environment, making the device more cost-efficient.

The advancements that are being made in battery technology are pretty mind boggling. We are seeing devices that are drawing power from just about every source that is imaginable, and now there is battery technology from researchers at Imperial College London that may actually have devices that create their own power. From cell phones to cars and everything in between, there may eventually be nothing more needed that to actually use the device.

This incredible new battery technology works because of the material that is being used in the actual construction of the items. The reason that the new material is making headlines is because of the fact that it can be integrated into the design of an automobile and would make it lighter and more fuel efficient, but could actually supply power to recharge the battery of an electric car.

With the material being able to be strong enough for the construction of a car, there are many other possibilities for its use. Right off the bat, devices such as cell phones, iPods, laptops and anything else that you can think of that would use battery power would be able to benefit from this new battery technology.