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Category: security – Page 37

South Dakota Proposes Center for Quantum Information Science & Technology

Governor Kristi Noem has proposed a $6 million investment in a new Center for Quantum Information Science & Technology (C-QIST) in her recommended budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

According to details from the proposed budget, the center, a collaborative effort between Dakota State University, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, South Dakota State University, and the University of South Dakota, aims to position the state as a leader in this emerging field with the potential to revolutionize everything from national security to healthcare.

The governor mentioned the potential of quantum computers to solve intractable problems as a reason for pursuing a quantum computing center, according to South Dakota Searchlight.

Nanostructured flat lens uses machine learning to ‘see’ more clearly, while using less power

From surveillance to defense to AI/ML virtualization, and it’s more compact and energy efficient. Oh and let’s not forget the medical imaging applications. I just wonder how long until it’s put into effect.

A front-end lens, or meta-imager, created at Vanderbilt University can potentially replace traditional imaging optics in machine-vision applications, producing images at higher speed and using less power.

The nanostructuring of lens material into a meta-imager filter reduces the typically thick optical lens and enables front-end processing that encodes information more efficiently. The imagers are designed to work in concert with a digital backend to offload computationally expensive operations into high-speed and low-power optics. The images that are produced have potentially wide applications in , , and government and defense industries.

Mechanical engineering professor Jason Valentine, deputy director of the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, and colleagues’ proof-of-concept meta-imager is described in a paper published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Breaking the 10-petawatt limit with a new laser amplification

Ultra-intense ultrashort lasers have a wide-ranging scope of applications, encompassing basic physics, national security, industrial service, and health care. In basic physics, such lasers have become a powerful tool for researching strong-field laser physics, especially for laser-driven radiation sources, laser particle acceleration, vacuum quantum electrodynamics, and more.

A dramatic increase in peak power, from the 1996 1-petawatt “Nova” to the 2017 10-petawatt “Shanghai Super-intense Ultrafast Laser Facility” (SULF) and the 2019 10-petawatt “Extreme Light Infrastructure—Nuclear Physics” (ELI-NP), is due to a shift in gain medium for large-aperture lasers (from neodymium-doped glass to titanium: crystal). That shift reduced the pulse duration of high-energy lasers from around 500 femtoseconds (fs) to around 25 fs.

However, the for titanium: sapphire ultra-intense ultrashort lasers appears to be 10-petawatt. Presently, for 10-petawatt to 100-petawatt development planning, researchers generally abandon the titanium: sapphire chirped pulse technology, and turn to optical parametric chirped pulse amplification technology, based on deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate nonlinear crystals. That technology, due to its low pump-to-signal conversion efficiency and poor spatiotemporal-spectral-energy stability, will pose a great challenge for the realization and application of the future 10–100 petawatt lasers.

Nikon, Sony and Canon fight AI fakes with new camera tech

TOKYO — Nikon, Sony Group and Canon are developing camera technology that embeds digital signatures in images so that they can be distinguished from increasingly sophisticated fakes.

Nikon will offer mirrorless cameras with authentication technology for photojournalists and other professionals. The tamper-resistant digital signatures will include such information as date, time, location and photographer.

Quantum Key Distribution for Secure Optical Communication

In the modern digital age, where data flows freely and sensitive information is constantly in transit, secure communication has become essential. Traditional encryption methods, while effective, are not immune to the evolving threat landscape. This is where quantum key distribution (QKD) emerges as a revolutionary solution, offering unmatched security for transmitting sensitive data.

Image Credit: asharkyu/Shutterstock.com

The idea of quantum key distribution (QKD) dates back to Stephen Wiesner’s concept of quantum conjugate coding at Columbia University in the 1970s. Charles H. Bennett later built on this idea, introducing the first QKD protocol, BB84, in the 1980s, using nonorthogonal states. Since then, it has matured into one of the most established quantum technologies, commercially available for over 15 years.

Aerogel could become the key to future terahertz technologies

High-frequency terahertz waves have great potential for a number of applications including next-generation medical imaging and communication. Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, have shown, in a study published in the journal Advanced Science, that the transmission of terahertz light through an aerogel made of cellulose and a conducting polymer can be tuned. This is an important step to unlock more applications for terahertz waves.

The covers wavelengths that lie between microwaves and infrared light on the . It has a very high frequency. Thanks to this, many researchers believe that the terahertz range has great potential for use in , security technology and communication systems, among other things.

In , it can also be an interesting substitute for X-ray examinations as the waves can pass through most non-conductive materials without damaging any tissue.

Rocket Lab wins $515 million contract to build 18 satellites for U.S. government agency

WASHINGTON — Space launch provider and satellite manufacturer Rocket Lab has secured a deal worth over half a billion dollars to build 18 satellites for a U.S. government agency.

As disclosed in an SEC regulatory filing Dec. 21, Rocket Lab National Security will “design, manufacture, deliver and operate 18 space vehicles” as part of a U.S. government contract valued at $515 million. A spokesperson said the company could not provide further details.

Sources indicate that the customer is likely the Space Development Agency.

World’s largest electric cable close to power, could light 1.4 million homes

A high voltage direct current cable will connect UK homes with fresh green energy from the wind farms of Denmark.

Viking Link, the world’s largest interconnector, connecting electrical grids in Denmark and the UK using a 475-mile (765 km) undersea cable is days away from being put into operation. The interconnector will go online at reduced capacity and eventually power 1.4 million homes in the UK.

Interconnectors enable a quick way to tide over demand-supply fluctuations in an electrical grid. These are especially important in a world where energy comes from renewable sources and is known to be produced intermittently. This is why the EU expects them to play a crucial role in the region’s energy security in the future.

‘Teleporting’ images across a network securely using only light

Nature Communications published research by an international team from Wits and ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences, which demonstrates the teleportation-like transport of “patterns” of light—this is the first approach that can transport images across a network without physically sending the image and a crucial step towards realizing a quantum network for high-dimensional entangled states.

Quantum communication over long distances is integral to and has been demonstrated with two-dimensional states (qubits) over very long distances between satellites. This may seem enough if we compare it with its classical counterpart, i.e., sending bits that can be encoded in 1s (signal) and 0s (no signal), one at a time.

However, quantum optics allow us to increase the alphabet and to securely describe more in a single shot, such as a unique fingerprint or a face.