Science Daily March 19, 2020 A team of researchers in the UK present secure key exchange up to 200 km while removing all side-channels from the measurement system. They used mass-manufacturable, monolithically integrated transmitters that represent an accessible, quantum-ready communication platform. This work demonstrates a network topology that allows secure equipment sharing which is accessible with a cost-effective transmitter, significantly reducing the barrier for widespread uptake of quantum-secured communication…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
For 75 Years, The US Had an ‘Endless Frontier’ of Science. Now It’s Coming to an End
Science Alert March 14, 2020 Science The Endless Frontier released by the first US presidential science adviser engineer Vannevar Bush in 1945 became the blueprint for postwar science. It led to the development of the modern American research university, the National Science Foundation and increased government funding for science research from the 1940s to 1960s. According to the attendees at a symposium marking the 75th anniversary of the report, many facets of the plan aren’t working anymore, and the structural framework laid out in The Endless Frontier needs refreshing for 2020. Maintaining and bolstering trust in science has never been […]
Leaf-inspired surface prevents frost formation
Science Daily March 10, 2020 Based on their fundamental understanding of discontinuous frost patterns found on the leaf vein structure on the scale of millimeters, researchers at Northwestern University elucidated the thermodynamic correlation between the frost-free area and two major surface system parameters—macroscopic surface geometry and ambient humidity. This systematic study on the frost formation mechanism allowed them to demonstrate a ∼50% of frost coverage even for superhydrophilic surfaces and provides a quantitative guideline for further reducing frost coverage. The finding could help decrease the amount of energy needed for de-frosting and could potentially result in fewer canceled flights, which […]
Li-Fi Scrubs Into the Operating Room
IEEE Spectrum March 13, 2020 An international team of researchers (Germany, Czech Republic) set up multiple Li-Fi transmitters and receivers in a neurosurgery operating room in Prague. In a series of tests, the Li-Fi system managed to transfer data quickly and without complete signal loss. They achieved data rates of up to 600 megabits per second. Because Li-Fi uses higher-frequency light than Wi-Fi does, it could, in theory, have a higher bandwidth and therefore transmit data more quickly. Unlike Wi-Fi’s radio frequencies, which can pass through walls, optical light is easily blocked by humans or objects. To get around this […]
Novel error-correction scheme developed for quantum computers
Science Daily March 11, 2020 Bosonic rotation codes are based on phase-space rotation symmetry. Researchers in Australia present a universal quantum computing scheme applicable to a subset of this class which includes the well-known cat and binomial codes, among many others. The entangling gate in the scheme code can be used to interface different rotation-symmetric encodings. They propose a teleportation-based error-correction scheme that allows recoveries to be tracked entirely in software. Numerically have shown that the error-correction scheme is close to optimal for error-free ancillae and ideal measurements and present a scheme for fault-tolerant, universal quantum computing based on the […]
Over 24,000 coronavirus research papers are now available in one place
MIT Technology Review March 16, 2020 Today researchers collaborating across several organizations released the Covid-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19), which includes over 24,000 research papers from peer-reviewed journals as well as sources like bioRxiv and medRxiv. The research covers SARS-CoV-2, Covid-19 and the coronavirus group. The database was compiled under the request of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) through a collaboration between three organizations. The National Library of Medicine provided access to existing scientific publications; Microsoft used its literature curation algorithms to find relevant articles; and research nonprofit the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) […]
Pathways toward realizing the promise of all-solid-state batteries
Nanowerk March 13, 2020 Though promising all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) still face barriers that limit their practical application such as poor interfacial stability, scalability challenges and production safety. In this review article researchers at UC San Diego seek to evaluate solid-state electrolytes beyond conventional factors and offer a perspective on various bulk, interface and nanoscale phenomena that require urgent attention within the scientific community. They provide a realistic assessment of the current state-of-the-art characterization techniques and evaluate future full cell ASSB prototyping strategies. They hope to offer rational solutions to overcome some major fundamental obstacles faced by the ASSB community, as […]
Publishers try out alternative pathways to open access
Science Magazine March 13, 2020 Article-processing fees (APCs) can run several thousand dollars per paper. Two non-profit publishers, Annual Review and ACM, have debuted new ways to support Open Access journals without shifting the burden entirely to authors. In the Annual Reviews model to make a journal freely available, institutions would be asked for a contribution equivalent to their previous subscription—minus a 5% discount that Annual Reviews to retain a critical mass of paying institutions. It will reimpose paywalls and rescind the discount if not enough subscribers renew each year. ACM is asking the institutions that publish the most papers […]
Qubits that operate at room temperature
Phys.org March 17, 2020 Defect-based quantum systems are often complicated by charge-state instabilities and interference by phonons, which can diminish spin-initialization fidelities and limit room-temperature operation. An international team of researchers (Hungary, Sweden, USA – Argonne National Laboratory, University of Chicago, IBM, Russia) identified a pathway around these drawbacks by showing that an engineered quantum well can stabilize the charge state of a qubit. They constructed a model for previously unattributed point defect centers in silicon carbide as a near-stacking fault axial divacancy and show how this model explains these defects’ robustness against photoionization and room temperature stability. These results […]
Research team presents novel transmitter for terahertz waves
Phys.org March 16, 2020 If you irradiate pure germanium with a short laser pulse, it takes several microseconds before the electrical charge in the semiconductor disappears. Only then can the crystals absorb the next laser pulse. Gallium-arsenide crystals only deliver relatively narrowband terahertz pulses and thus a restricted frequency range. Researchers in Germany used gold implanted germanium to present ultrabroadband (extending up to 70 THz) THz emission that is compatible with mode-locked fibre lasers operating at wavelengths of 1.1 and 1.55 μm with pulse repetition rates of 10 and 20 MHz, respectively. This result opens the possibility for the development of compact THz […]