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Category: computing – Page 46

Laser diodes are semiconductors that generate light and amplify it using repeated reflection or “optical feedback.” Once the light has achieved desirable optical gain, laser diodes release it as powerful laser beams.

Photonic crystal surface-emitting lasers (PCSELs) are advanced where the optical gain is typically distributed laterally to the propagating light within a photonic crystal (PC) structure. They differ from traditional lasers by separating gain, feedback, and emission functions, offering scalable single-mode power and innovative designs. This leads to enhanced performance and new application possibilities.

In a paper that was published in the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics on 20 November 2024, researchers have developed a method to numerically simulate the interaction of light waves within PCSELs.

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In a groundbreaking use of teleportation, critical units of a quantum processor have been successfully spread across multiple computers, proving the potential of distributing quantum modules without compromising on their performance.

While the transfer only took place over a space of two meters (about six feet) in an Oxford University laboratory, the leap was more than enough to emphasize the feasibility of scaling quantum technology by teleporting quantum states across an ‘internet’ of connected systems.

Teleportation is a quirk of physics that only makes sense through a quantum lens, where objects exist in a blur of possible characteristics until processes of measurement force them to adopt each state.

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I presented these slides (PDF and images below) during the Workshop on Philosophy and Ethics of Brain Emulation (January 28th-29th, 2025) at the Mimir Center for Long Term Futures Research in Stockholm, Sweden. In my talk, I explored how various biological phenomena beyond standard neuronal electrophysiology may exert noticeable effects on the computations underlying subjective experiences. I emphasized the importance of the large range of timescales that such phenomena operate over (milliseconds to years). If we are to create emulations which think and feel like human beings, we must carefully consider the numerous tunable regulatory mechanisms the brain uses to enhance the complexity of its computational repertoire.

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UC Davis Health is pleased to announce that Neurosurgeon David Brandman and his team at UC Davis Neuroprosthetics Lab were selected for a 2025 Top Ten Clinical Research Achievement Award. The Clinical Research Forum presents this award to honor 10 outstanding clinical research studies published in peer-reviewed journals in the previous year. This year’s Top 10 Awards ceremony will be held on April 14 in Washington, D.C.

Brandman and his team are recognized for their groundbreaking work in developing a new brain-computer interface (BCI) that translates brain signals into speech with up to 97% accuracy — the most accurate system of its kind. Their work was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Our team is very honored that our study was selected among the nation’s best published clinical research studies. Our work demonstrates the most accurate speech neuroprosthesis (device) ever reported,” said Brandman, co-director of the Neuroprosthetics Lab. He is an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Neurological Surgery.

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Particle detectors play a crucial role in our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of the universe. They allow scientists to study the behavior and properties of the particles produced in high-energy collisions. Such particles are boosted to near the speed of light in large accelerators and then smashed into targets or other particles where they are then analyzed with detectors. Traditional detectors, however, lack the needed sensitivity and precision for certain types of research.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have made a significant breakthrough in the field of high-energy particle detection in recent experiments conducted at the Test Beam Facility at DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab).

They have found a new use for the superconducting nanowire photon detectors (SNSPDs) already employed for detecting photons, the fundamental particles of light. These incredibly sensitive and precise detectors work by absorbing individual photons. The absorption generates small electrical changes in the superconducting nanowires at very low temperatures, allowing for the detection and measurement of photons. Specialized devices able to detect individual photons are crucial for quantum cryptography (the science of keeping information secret and secure), advanced optical sensing (precision measurement using light) and quantum computing.

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A new paper in Nature Physics shows that by cramming lots of rare-earth ions into a crystal, some will form pairs that act as highly coherent qubits, thus debunking the idea that solid-state qubits need to be super dilute in an ultra-clean material to achieve long lifetimes.

According to the study’s authors, one of the major barriers to practical quantum computing has been how to make qubits that retain their quantum information long enough to be useful.

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“We’ve found that Enceladus’ ocean should behave like oil and water in a jar, with layers that resist vertical mixing,” said Flynn Ames.

Could finding life in alien oceans be harder than previously thought? This is what a recent study published in Communications Earth & Environment hopes to address as a team of researchers from the United Kingdom investigated how life that might exist in the depths of alien oceans like Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, could take time to reach the surface for sampling, which could potentially pose problems for future sample return missions to these intriguing worlds.

For the study, the researchers used a series of computer models to simulate the various layers that could exist between the liquid ocean of Enceladus and the plumes that discharge from its south polar regions, nicknamed “tiger stripes” for its giant ice cracks. Given the sampling potential of the plumes, especially with NASA’s Cassini spacecraft having flown through the plumes during its mission, the researchers wanted to ascertain the length of time material from potential hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean would reach the surface to be discharged by the plumes and sampled for signs of life. In the end, the researchers found that material from the bottom of Enceladus’ would take several centuries to reach a plausible depth to be discharged by the plumes.

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Scattering takes place across the universe at large and miniscule scales. Billiard balls clank off each other in bars, the nuclei of atoms collide to power the stars and create heavy elements, and even sound waves deviate from their original trajectory when they hit particles in the air.

Understanding such scattering can lead to discoveries about the forces that govern the universe. In a recent publication in Physical Review C, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the InQubator for Quantum Simulations and the University of Trento developed an algorithm for a quantum computer that accurately simulates scattering.

“Scattering experiments help us probe and their interactions,” said LLNL scientist Sofia Quaglioni. “The scattering of particles in matter [materials, atoms, molecules, nuclei] helps us understand how that matter is organized at a .”

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