Phys.org December 9, 2021 Coherent errors severely limit the performance of quantum algorithms in an unpredictable manner, and mitigating their impact is necessary for realizing reliable quantum computations. The average error rates measured by randomized benchmarking and related protocols are not sensitive to the full impact of coherent errors and therefore do not reliably predict the global performance of quantum algorithms. Randomized compiling is designed to overcome these performance limitations by converting coherent errors into stochastic noise, dramatically reducing unpredictable errors in quantum algorithms, and enabling accurate predictions of algorithmic performance from error rates measured via cycle benchmarking. An international […]
Development of a transparent and flexible ultra-thin memory device
Nanowerk December 7, 2021 Memories using conventional 2D nanomaterials have limitations owing to the weak carrier trapping characteristics of the nanomaterials. To develop a transparent and flexible memory device an international team of researchers (South Korea, India) To develop a transparent and flexible memory device an international team of researchers (South Korea, India) formed monolayered zero-dimensional (0D) quantum dots in a vertically stacked composite structure and sandwiched them between two insulating 2D hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) ultra-thin nanomaterial structures to produce a transparent and flexible device. The device maintains above 80% transparency and memory function even when bent. The maximum […]
Editorial Bias and Nepotism in Biomedical Journals Revealed by Massive Study
SciTech Daily December 4, 2021 An international team of researchers (France, Italy, Canada, UK) explored the usefulness of the Percentage of Papers by the Most Prolific author (PPMP) and the Gini index (level of inequality in the distribution of authorship among authors) as tools to identify journals that may show favoritism in accepting articles by specific authors. Among the journals with the highest PPMP or Gini index values, where a few authors were responsible for a disproportionate number of publications, a random sample was manually examined, revealing that the most prolific author was part of the editorial board in 60 […]
Engineers develop the first anti-COVID-19 stainless steel
Phys.org December 9, 2021 SARS-CoV-2 exhibits strong stability on conventional stainless steel (SS) surface, with infectious virus detected even after two days. Researchers in Hong Kong investigated the stabilities of SARS-CoV-2, H1N1 influenza A virus (H1N1), and Escherichia coli (E.coli) on the surfaces of Cu-contained (SS), pure Cu, Ag-contained SS, and pure Ag. They found that pure Ag and Ag-contained SS surfaces do not display apparent inhibitory effects on SARS-CoV-2 and H1N1. In comparison, both pure Cu and Cu-contained SS with a high Cu content exhibit significant antiviral properties. Anti-pathogen SS with 20 wt% Cu can distinctly reduce 99.75% and […]
Liquid crystals for fast switching devices
Phys.org December 6, 2021 In some liquid crystals the molecules self-assemble into helical structures which are characterized by pitch. Pitch determines how quickly they react to an applied electric field. An international team of researchers (Germany, Czech Republic, Russia) investigated a liquid crystalline cholesteric compound called EZL10/10 which had only one chiral center and it was only104 nanometres. Further analysis showed that in this material the cholesteric spirals form domains with characteristic lengths of about five pitches. According to the researchers the short pitch makes the material unique and promising for optoelectronic devices with very fast switching times, and the […]
Liquid marbles: how this tiny, emerging technology could solve carbon capture and storage problems
Phys.org December 8, 2021 Research shows “liquid marbles”—tiny droplets coated with nanoparticles—could possibly address current challenges in materials used to capture carbon. Gas from the reactor hits the marbles, where it clings to the nanoparticle outer shell, the gas then reacts with the liquid within, separating the CO₂ and capturing it inside the marble. CO₂ can be taken out and stored underground, and then recycle the liquid for future processing. This process can be a more time and cost-efficient way of capturing CO₂. However, many properties of liquid marbles remain elusive as physical experiments have their limitations. An international team […]
Memristive spintronic neurons: Combining two cognitive computing nano-elements into one
Nanowerk December 6, 2021 For ultrafast non-conventional computing synchronization of large spin Hall nano-oscillator arrays tuning its individual oscillators and providing built-in memory units remain substantial challenges. An international team of researchers (Sweden, India, Japan) has demonstrated the integration of a memristor into another, a spintronic oscillator. Arrays of the memristor-controlled oscillators combine the non-volatile local storage of the memristor function with the microwave frequency computation of the nano-oscillator networks and can closely imitate the non-linear oscillatory neural networks of the human brain. Using the memristor-controlled spintronic oscillator arrays, they could tune the synaptic interactions between adjacent neurons and program […]
New type of earthquake discovered
Phys.org December 6, 2021 A seismic slip loading has recently been proposed as a complementary mechanism to induce moderate-sized earthquakes located within a few kilometers of the wellbore over the timescales of hydraulic stimulation. However, aseismic slip signals linked to injection-induced earthquakes remain largely undocumented to date. An international team of researchers (Canada, Germany) has reported a new type of earthquake characterized by hybrid-frequency waveforms (EHWs). Distinguishing features from typical induced earthquakes include broader P and S-pulses and relatively lower-frequency coda content. Both features may be causally related to lower corner frequencies, implying longer source durations, thus, either slower rupture […]
This New Ultra-Compact Camera Is The Size of a Grain of Salt And Takes Stunning Photos
Science Alert December 4, 2021 Although metasurface optics offer a path to ultra-small imagers, existing methods have achieved image quality far worse than bulky refractive alternatives because of aberrations at large apertures and low f-numbers. A team of researchers in the US (Princeton University, Washington University) has introduced a neural nano-optics imager. They devised a fully differentiable learning framework that learns a metasurface physical structure in conjunction with a neural feature-based image reconstruction algorithm achieving an order of magnitude lower reconstruction error than existing approaches. They experimentally validated the results. The nano-optic imager combines the widest field-of-view for full-color metasurface […]
A pair of gold flakes creates a self-assembled resonator
Science Daily December 2, 2021 Self-ordering in molecular and biological systems typically involves short-range hydrophobic and van der Waals interactions. An international team of researchers (Sweden, Russia) has found a way process for micrometre-scale self-assembly based on the joint action of attractive Casimir and repulsive electrostatic forces arising between charged metallic nanoflakes in an aqueous solution. This system forms a self-assembled optical Fabry–Pérot microcavity with a fundamental mode in the visible range (long-range separation distance about 100–200 nanometres) and a tunable equilibrium configuration. By placing an excitonic material in the microcavity region, they were able to realize hybrid light–matter states […]