Lifeboat Foundation

Nice.

Using their advanced atomic clock to mimic other desirable quantum systems, JILA physicists have caused atoms in a gas to behave as if they possess unusual magnetic properties long sought in harder-to-study solid materials. Representing a novel “off-label” use for atomic clocks, the research could lead to the creation of new materials for applications such as “spintronic” devices and quantum computers.

JILA’s record-setting atomic clock, in which strontium atoms are trapped in a laser grid known as an optical lattice, turns out to be an excellent model for the magnetic behavior of crystalline solids at the atomic scale. Such models are valuable for studying the counterintuitive rules of quantum mechanics.

Continue reading “JILA atomic clock mimics long-sought synthetic magnetic state” »

Doesn’t pay to fraud the government. The real question is why it took so long (4 years).

Defendant submitted false data and information instead of building and testing experimental components

OAKLAND – S. Darin Kinion, Ph.D., was sentenced today to 18 months’ imprisonment for submitting false data and reports to defraud the United States in connection with a quantum computing research program announced United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch, U.S. Department of Energy Special Agent in Charge of the Office of the Inspector General Scott Berenberg, and Inspector General of the Intelligence Community I. Charles McCullough III. The sentence follows a guilty plea entered June 14, 2016, in which Kinion acknowledged submitting false data and reports to the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (“IARPA”) of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a scheme to defraud the government out of money intended to fund research.

Continue reading “Scientist Who Faked Research to Receive Grants, Sentenced to 18-Months” »

Researchers have developed a new type of light-enhancing optical cavity that is only 200 nanometers tall and 100 nanometers across. Their new nanoscale system represents a step toward brighter single-photon sources, which could help propel quantum-based encryption and a truly secure and future-proofed network.

Quantum encryption techniques, which are seen as likely to be central to future data encryption methods, use individual photons as an extremely secure way to encode data. A limitation of these techniques has been the ability to emit photons at high rates. “One of the most important figures of merit for single-photon sources is brightness—or collected photons per second—because the brighter it is, the more data you can transmit securely with quantum encryption,” said Yousif Kelaita, Nanoscale and Quantum Photonics Lab, Stanford University, California.

In the journal Optical Materials Express, Kelaita and his colleagues show that their new nanocavity significantly increased the emission brightness of quantum dots—nanometer-scale semiconductor particles that can emit single photons.

Continue reading “Ultra-small nanocavity advances technology for secure quantum-based data encryption” »

Many more great things are coming.

NIST called on cryptography researchers to submit their quantum-proof encryption algorithms by November 30. NIST is the latest government agency to start taking the threat of quantum computers seriously.

Back in September 2015, Gooch & Housego reported on our work with cold atom technology on the FreezeRay project. Now, just over a year later, we’re happy to say that Gooch & Housego has successfully won funding for involvement in two further programs, CASPA and REVEAL, in a competition for the commercialization of quantum technologies. The contest is supported by Innovate UK and the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme.

CASPA (Cold Atom Space Payload) has the aim of developing a payload compatible with CubeSat and capable of producing cold atoms in space. As with all such projects, we are breaking new ground here and an effective demonstration of the prototype system – in this instance space will be the crucial first step towards commercializing instrumentation systems capable of recording minuscule changes in the earth’s gravitational strength. Such changes when mapped across the earth’s surface have the potential to be used in resource exploration or to geo-monitoring of polar ice mass, ocean currents and sea level changes.

CASPA will also evaluate the viability of using the technology in the provision of higher precision timing sources for next generation global positioning system (GPS) and also for deep space navigation. The program partners are e2v technologies Ltd, ClydeSpace, XCAM, Covesion, the University of Birmingham and the University of Southampton.

Continue reading “Fiber Optics For Quantum Technology Research” »

Dr. Chen Yue, Director of Commercial Satellite Technology for the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) announced on December 10, 2016 that not only has China successfully tested EmDrives technology in its laboratories, but that a proof-of-concept is currently undergoing zero-g testing in orbit (according to the International Business Times, this test is taking place on the Tiangong 2 space station).

Scientists with the China Academy of Space Technology claim NASA’s results ‘re-confirm’ what they’d already achieved, and have plans to implement it in satellites ‘as quickly as possible.’

Continue reading “China says tests of Propellentless EMDrive on Tiangong 2 space station were successful” »

The time is right to make quantum computing real…

Zura Kakushadze is lead author of this peer reviewed paper published by the Free University of Tbilisi. It describes an information paradox that arises in a materialist’s description of the Universe—if we assume that the Universe is 100% quantum. The observation of the paradox stems from an interdisciplinary thought process whereby the Universe can be viewed as a “quantum computer”.

The presentation is intentionally nontechnical to make it accessible to a wide a readership.

From laptops to cellphones, technology advances through the ever-increasing speed at which electric charges are directed through circuits. Similarly, speeding up control over quantum states in atomic and nanoscale systems could lead to leaps for the emerging field of quantum technology.

An international collaboration between physicists at the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, McGill University, and the University of Konstanz recently demonstrated a new framework for faster control of a quantum bit. First published online Nov. 28, 2016, in Nature Physics, their experiments on a single electron in a diamond chip could create quantum devices that are less prone to errors when operated at high speeds.