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Category: computing – Page 472

Quantum one-way street in topological insulator nanowires

Very thin wires made of a topological insulator could enable highly stable qubits, the building blocks of future quantum computers. Scientists see a new result in topological insulator devices as an important step towards realizing the technology’s potential.

An international group of scientists have demonstrated that wires more than 100 times thinner than a can act like a quantum one-way street for electrons when made of a peculiar material known as a .

The discovery opens the pathway for new technological applications of devices made from topological insulators and demonstrates a significant step on the road to achieving so-called topological qubits, which it has been predicted can robustly encode information for a quantum computer.

Algae-powered computing: Scientists create reliable and renewable biological photovoltaic cell

Researchers have used a widespread species of blue-green algae to power a microprocessor continuously for a year—and counting—using nothing but ambient light and water. Their system has potential as a reliable and renewable way to power small devices.

The system, comparable in size to an AA battery, contains a type of non-toxic algae called Synechocystis that naturally harvests energy from the sun through photosynthesis. The tiny electrical current this generates then interacts with an aluminum electrode and is used to power a microprocessor.

The system is made of common, inexpensive and largely . This means it could easily be replicated hundreds of thousands of times to power large numbers of small devices as part of the Internet of Things. The researchers say it is likely to be most useful in off-grid situations or , where small amounts of power can be very beneficial.

New transistors integrating high-k perovskite oxides and 2D semiconductors

Over the past decades, electronics engineers and material scientists worldwide have been investigating the potential of various materials for fabricating transistors, devices that amplify or switch electrical signals in electronic devices. Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have been known to be particularly promising materials for fabricating the new electronic devices.

Despite their advantages, the use of these materials in electronics greatly depends on their integration with high-quality dielectrics, insulating materials or materials that are poor conductors of electrical current. These materials, however, can be difficult to deposit on 2D substrates.

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences have recently demonstrated the successful integration of single-crystal strontium titrate, a high-κ perovskite , with 2D semiconductors, using van der Waals forces. Their paper, published in Nature Electronics, could open new possibilities for the development of new types of transistors and electronic components.

Costa Rica declares state of emergency over ransomware attack

Costa Rica has declared a state of emergency after ransomware hackers crippled computer networks across multiple government agencies, including the Finance Ministry.

The official declaration, published on a government website Wednesday, said that the attack was “unprecedented in the country” and that it interrupted the country’s tax collection and exposed citizens’ personal information.

The hackers initially broke into the Finance Ministry on April 12, it said. They were able to spread to other agencies, including the Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications and the National Meteorological Institute.

New tech can double spectral bandwidth in some 5G systems

Some materials, like wood, are insulators that block the flow of electricity. Conductors, such as copper, allow for electricity to flow through them. Other materials—semiconductors—can be either/or depending on conditions such as applied electric field or temperature. Unlike wood or copper or silicon, though, topological insulators (TIs) are an exotic state of matter that is conductive on the surface, but not in the bulk. Such unique material properties have great scientific implications and could be of use in a range of technologies, including wireless communications, radar and quantum information processing.

Through a , the research labs of Aravind Nagulu, assistant professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues from Columbia University and the City University of New York’s Advanced Science Research Center have demonstrated the first implementation of an electromagnetic topological insulator on an integrated chip.

The collaborative project’s findings were published May 2 in the journal Nature Electronics.

These ‘smart’ contact lenses have a built-in display for augmented reality

Circa 2020

A startup has built what it claims is the “world’s first true smart contact lens” with an embedded display that would bring augmented reality experiences closer to your eyeball than ever before.

The company is called Mojo Vision, and its Mojo Lens is the culmination of over a decade of research, development, and patent filings (it’s racked up over 100 patents to date). While it’s not shipping a product (yet), the company is currently demonstrating a working prototype.

“After extensive research, development, and testing, we are excited to reveal our product plans and begin sharing details about this transformative platform,” said Drew Perkins, CEO at Mojo Vision. “Mojo has a vision for Invisible Computing where you have the information you want when you want it and are not bombarded or distracted by data when you don’t. The technology should be helpful, and it should be available in the moment and fade away when you want to focus on the world around you.”

How “Photonic Computers” Could Use Light Instead of Electricity

At the time of writing, scientists and engineers still haven’t figured out how to replicate every computer component that currently exists within semiconductor processors. Computation is nonlinear. It requires that different signals interact with each other and change the outcomes of other components. You need to build logic gates in the same way that semiconductor transistors are used to create logic gates, but photons don’t behave in a way that naturally works with this approach.

This is where photonic logic comes into the picture. By using nonlinear optics it’s possible to build logic gates similar to those used in conventional processors. At least, in theory, it could be possible. There are many practical and technological hurdles to overcome before photonic computers play a significant role.

Black Holes and the Quantum-Extended Church-Turing Thesis | Quantum Colloquium

Leonard Susskind (Stanford University)
https://simons.berkeley.edu/events/quantum-colloquium-black-…ing-thesis.
Quantum Colloquium.

A few years ago three computer scientists named Adam Bouland, Bill Fefferman, and Umesh Vazirani, wrote a paper that promises to radically change the way we think about the interiors of black holes. Inspired by their paper I will explain how black holes threaten the QECTT, and how the properties of horizons rescue the thesis, and eventually make predictions for the complexity of extracting information from behind the black hole horizon. I’ll try my best to explain enough about black holes to keep the lecture self contained.

Panel featuring Scott Aaronson (UT Austin), Geoffrey Penington (UC Berkeley), and Edward Witten (IAS); Umesh Vazirani (UC Berkeley; moderator). 1:27:30.

Gravity signals could detect earthquakes at the speed of light

Algorithm set for deployment in Japan could identify giant temblors faster and more reliably.

Two minutes after the world’s biggest tectonic plate shuddered off the coast of Japan, the country’s meteorological agency issued its final warning to about 50 million residents: A magnitude 8.1 earthquake had generated a tsunami that was headed for shore. But it wasn’t until hours after the waves arrived that experts gauged the true size of the 11 March 2011 Tohoku quake. Ultimately, it rang in at a magnitude 9—releasing more than 22 times the energy experts predicted and leaving at least 18,000 dead, some in areas that never received the alert. Now, scientists have found a way to get more accurate size estimates faster, by using computer algorithms to identify the wake from gravitational waves that shoot from the fault at the speed of light.

“This is a completely new [way to recognize] large-magnitude earthquakes,” says Richard Allen, a seismologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the study. “If we were to implement this algorithm, we’d have that much more confidence that this is a really big earthquake, and we could push that alert out over a much larger area sooner.”

Scientists typically detect earthquakes by monitoring ground vibrations, or seismic waves, with devices called seismometers. The amount of advance warning they can provide depends on distance between the earthquake and the seismometers, and the speed of the seismic waves, which travel less than 6 kilometers per second. Networks in Japan, Mexico, and California provide seconds or even minutes of advance warning, and the approach works well for relatively small temblors. But beyond magnitude 7, the earthquake waves can saturate seismometers. This makes the most destructive earthquakes, like Japan’s Tohoku quake, the most challenging to identify, Allen says.