Lifeboat Foundation

Quantum engineering, a dynamic discipline bridging the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and established engineering fields has developed significantly in the past few decades. Two-level systems such as superconducting quantum bits are the building blocks of quantum circuits. Qubits of this type are currently the most researched and used in quantum computing applications^1,2,3,4,5. The characteristics of the superconducting qubits such as eigen energies, non-linearity, coupling strengths etc. can be tailored easily by adjusting the design parameters^6,7. Qubits have large non-linearity, which makes it possible to selectively address and control them^1,3,7,8. This dynamic property makes superconducting qubits a strong candidate for plethora of applications. Other two-level microscopic quantum systems^{9,10,11,12,13,14} also have certain advantages and may be used in the future.

Quantum devices operate at low temperatures and require good isolation from external noises. Microwave devices, such as circulators and isolators, protect quantum circuits by unidirectionally routing the output signal, whilst simultaneously isolating noise from the output channel back to the quantum circuit. Their non-reciprocal character relies on the properties of ferrites^15,16,17. Ferrite-based non-reciprocal devices are bulky^15,16,17, and they cannot be positioned near the quantum circuit because they require strong magnetic fields. Although commercial ferrite based non-reciprocal devices harness high isolation and low insertion loss, their dependency on magnetic components limits the scalability of cryogenic quantum circuits^15,16,18,19. Various ferrite-free approaches based on non-linear behavior of artificial atoms¹⁶, dc superconducting quantum interference devices (dc-SQUID)^20,21, and arrays of Josephson junctions (JJ’s)^19,22,23,24, have been experimentally demonstrated and implemented. Recently, a circuit based on semiconductor mixers has been used to realize a compact microwave isolator, which the authors claim could be extended to an on-chip device using Josephson mixers, although the “on-chip” demonstration is not yet reported²⁵. Additionally, mesoscopic circulators exploiting the quantum Hall effect to break time-reversal symmetry of electrical transport in 2D systems are explored at a cost of larger magnetic fields deleterious to superconducting circuits^{18,26,27,28,29}. More recently, a passive on-chip circulator based on three Josephson elements operating in charge-sensitive regime was demonstrated³⁰. Such devices are frequently limited by their parameter regime, leaving them charge sensitive and therefore difficult to implement in a practical scenario. However, it is possible to mitigate the charge-sensitivity by carefully tuning the device parameters. Our device operates in a parameter regime that is not sensitive to charge fluctuations or charge parity switching, a fundamental requirement for any practical implementation, and requires small magnetic field. The reported device is a proof of concept (PoC), potentially useful in the applications relevant to microwave read-out components in the field of superconducting quantum circuits.

In this work, we present a robust and simple on-chip microwave diode demonstrating transmission rectification based on a superconducting flux qubit⁸. The concept of the device is shown in Fig. 1a. The flux qubit is inductively coupled to two superconducting resonators of different lengths with different coupling strengths. The design details are reported later in this section. Probing the qubit at the half-flux (degeneracy point) with one tone-spectroscopy, we observe identical patterns of transmission coefficient for signals propagating in the opposite directions, which are shifted by 5 dB in power. This shift indicates the non-reciprocal behaviour in our device, expressed in terms of transmission rectification ratio ® in this article. The origin of this effect is the non-linearity of the flux qubit, which controls the transmission coefficient of the whole structure.

New findings from the James Webb Space Telescope reveal a surprising abundance of oxygen in the early Universe. Researchers discovered that oxygen levels in galaxies surged within 500–700 million years following the Universe’s birth, reaching levels comparable to those in contemporary galaxies. This suggests that the essential elements for life were present much earlier than previously believed.

In the early Universe, shortly after the Big Bang, only light elements such as hydrogen, helium, and lithium existed. Heavier elements like oxygen were subsequently formed through nuclear fusion reactions within stars and dispersed into galaxies, primarily through events like supernova explosions. This ongoing process of element synthesis, unfolding over the vast expanse of cosmic history, created the diverse elements that constitute the world and living organisms around us.

Astronomers have proposed a new way to solve the so-called “Hubble tension,” but the approach ultimately raises more questions than it answers.

By way of background, cosmologists are in a bit of a crisis these days. One of the most important numbers they can measure is the so-called Hubble constant, the rate of expansion of the present-day universe. At their disposal cosmologists have two sets of tools to measure this number. On one side are tools that probe the relatively nearby universe, like measuring the brightnesses of a certain kind of exploding star known as Type 1a supernovae. These supernovae all erupt with the same absolute brightness, so by measuring their observed magnitudes, astronomers can calculate their distances, and then use that to estimate how quickly the universe is expanding.

The downside of this approach is that supernovae don’t always explode with exactly the same brightness, and for the kind of precision measurements astronomers are aiming for, they have to include assumptions and modeling of supernovae, which can potentially introduce inaccuracies.

I’ve been diving into this cool concept called gravitational time dilation, and it’s like this mind-bending thing predicted by Albert Einstein in his theory of relativity. This concept highlights the actual difference in elapsed time between events observed by individuals situated at varying distances from a massive gravitational source.

If you’re hanging out close to a massive gravitational source, like a planet or star, time slows down for you. It’s like a cosmic slow-motion effect. But if you move away from it, time speeds up. This has been proven in experiments with atomic clocks placed at different heights — the closer to the Earth’s surface, the slower the clock ticks compared to those higher up.

Einstein first talked about this in 1907 when he was figuring out special relativity in speedy frames of reference. In general relativity, it’s like time is doing a dance based on where you are in space, as described by this thing called a metric tensor.

A new study by Dr Constantine Evans of Maynooth University and researchers at the University of Chicago and California Institute of Technology, published in Nature, shows how the molecules that build structures can do both the thinking and the doing.

We tend to separate the brain and muscle – the brain does the thinking; the muscle does the doing. The brain takes in complex information about the world, makes decisions, while muscle merely executes.

This brain-muscle separation has also shaped how we think about the working within a single cell; some molecules within cells are seen as ‘thinkers’ that take in information about the chemical environment and decide what the cell needs to do for survival; separately, other molecules are seen as the ‘muscle’, building structures needed for survival.

As one of the few schools on Long Island offering the AP Capstone program in their curricula, Patchogue-Medford High School provides various STEM opportunities for its students.

From Brookhaven National Laboratory to Stony Brook University right at our fingertips, the possibilities are endless. For instance, on December 8 th, four AP Research students joined Dr. Gatz in spending the day at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to conduct the necessary experiments for their research papers.

Senior, Carlo Costigliola, and Junior, Isaac Varghese, have decided to focus their research on DNA barcoding. According to International Barcode of Life, “DNA barcoding is a method of specimen identification using short, standardized segments of DNA.”

Natasha and Max also appear in a recent video titled “Transhumanism. What it is not” in conversation with David Wood and two representatives of the anti-transhumanist camp, Alexander Thomas and Émile Torres. I’m not familiar with the work of Thomas. I’m more familiar with the work of Torres. I very strongly disagree with most of what Torres says, but I must concede that Torres seems an intelligent and perceptive person, not without a certain endearing grace. However, BS is BS.

I’ve watched and listened again to the awesome conversation between Lex Fridman and Guillaume Verdon aka Beff Jezos, the founder of the movement called effective accelerationism (e/acc) and the company Extropic AI. This long conversation (almost 3 hours) touches a lot of things including physics, quantum, thermodynamics, Artificial Intelligence, LLMs, space, e/acc philosophy & metaphysics, and of course the meaning of life & all that. This is the most complete talk on e/acc so far and is likely to remain so for some time. Watch it all, and let’s accelerate the fuck away from mediocrity toward unlimited extropian and cosmist greatness.

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Today, the star-formation rate across the Universe is a mere trickle: just 3% of what it was at its peak. Here’s what it was like back then.

A recent study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters investigates the potential existence of Mars-sized free-floating planets (FFPs)—also known as rogue planets, starless planets, and wandering planets—that could have been captured by our sun’s gravity long ago and orbit in the outer solar system approximately 1,400 astronomical units (AU) from the sun. For context, the farthest known planetary body in the solar system is Pluto, which orbits approximately 39 AU from the sun, and is also part of the Kuiper Belt, which scientists estimate extends as far out as 1,000 AU from the sun.