IEEE Spectrum March 22, 2019 According to some experts quantum computing will never materialize as it will require control over an exponentially large number of quantum states, and that this amount of control is too difficult to achieve. According to Intel there are four key challenges that could keep quantum computing from becoming a reality – Qubit Quality, Error Correction, Qubit Control, Too Many Wires. Researches at Intel are working to tackle each of these challenges. But if solved, we could create a commercially relevant quantum computer in about 10-12 years… read more.
One transistor for all purposes
Nanowerk March 19, 2019 Until now, organic semiconductors have failed to achieve high performance in highly integrated sub-100 nm transistors. Using a vertical field-effect transistor design with a channel length of only 40 nm and a footprint of 2 × 80 × 80 nm2, researchers in Germany show that high electrical performance with organic polymers can be realized when using electrolyte gating. These organic transistors combine high on-state current densities of above 3 MA cm−2, on/off current modulation ratios of up to 108 and large transconductances of up to 5,000 S m−1. These structures show promise for use in artificial neural networks, where they could operate as memristive devices with sub-100 fJ […]
Materials could delay frost up to 300 times longer than existing anti-icing coatings
Nanowerk March 21, 2019 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Illinois, France) has demonstrated that the use of certain phase‐change materials, called phase‐switching liquids (PSLs), which are in liquid state under ambient conditions and have melting point higher than the freezing point of water can impede condensation–frosting lasting up to 300 and 15 times longer in bulk and surface infused state, respectively. The freezing delay is primarily a consequence of the release of trapped latent heat due to condensation, solidified PSL surface morphology and its miscibility in water. Regardless of surface chemistry, PSL‐infused textured surfaces exhibit low […]
In a new quantum simulator, light behaves like a magnet
Phys.org March 19, 2019 An international team of researchers (Switzerland, France, Japan) proposes a new “quantum simulator”, a photonic device that can be built and run with current experimental techniques. It may be built using superconducting coupled to laser fields in such a way that it causes an effective interaction among photons. It can simulate the complex behavior of real, interacting magnets at very low temperatures. They found that the photons behaved in the same way as magnetic dipoles across the quantum phase transition in real materials. The Using the new technique photons can be used to run a virtual […]
Growing Drone Industry Spawns a Growing Antidrone Industry
IEEE Spectrum March 26, 2019 FAA report to address the rogue drones is due to be released in about two months. It’s not technically difficult to detect even a small drone with suitable radar equipment. But the tricky part is distinguishing them from birds, which have about the same radar cross section. The signals recorded by the right radar will register these differences between birds and drones. Once a drone has been spotted flying someplace it shouldn’t be, there are all sorts of ways to neutralize it or take control over the drone and force it to land or fly […]
The future of stretchable electronics
Phys.org March 26, 2019 In this review article researchers in China highlight the advances in stretchable electronics, with an emphasis on underlying methods and engineering strategies in stretchable device construction and their applications. Currently there are two main strategies for manufacturing stretchable electronics. The first is to use intrinsically stretchable materials, such as rubber, which can endure large deformations but have high electrical resistance. The second method is to make non-flexible materials stretchable using innovative design. In the future, stretchable electronics may be enhanced with new capabilities, such as wireless communication, self-charging or even self-healing. Bringing stretchable electronic devices to […]
Engineers demonstrate metamaterials that can solve equations
Science Daily March 22, 2019 Signal processing of light waves can be used to represent certain mathematical functions and to perform computational tasks on signals or images in an analog fashion using complex systems of bulk optical elements such as lenses, filters, and mirrors. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that specially designed nanophotonic structures can take input waveforms encoded as complex mathematical functions, manipulate them, and provide an output that is the integral of the functions. The results, demonstrated for microwaves, provide a route to develop chip-based analog optical computers and computing elements… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
EmTech Digital 2019 Coverage
MIT Technology Review March 25, 2019 Everything you need to know from EmTech Digital 2019, where the sharpest minds in the technology, management, startup, engineering, and academic communities converge. The article covers the following 14 stories: Tech companies must anticipate the looming risks as AI gets creative ; AI researchers must confront “missed opportunities” to achieve social good; Deepfakes are solvable—but don’t forget that “shallowfakes” are already pervasive ; Robots won’t make it into our houses until they get common sense ; How malevolent machine learning could derail AI ; How machine learning is accelerating last-mile, and last-meter, delivery ; Your next car could have […]
Computer program developed to find ‘leakage’ in quantum computers
Science Daily March 19, 2019 Researchers in the UK used the dimension witnessing approach to show that in program making use of the permitted ‘single qubit’ instructions, unwanted states were being accessed in the transmon circuit components. Their quantum computer program detects the presence of ‘leakage’, where information being processed by a quantum computer escapes from the states of 0 and 1. Most quantum computing hardware platforms suffer from this issue. They verified experimental data from its application on a publicly accessible machine, which shows that undesirable states are affecting certain computations. Even a miniscule leakage accumulating over many millions […]
Debating China’s BRI and Being Home to the Next Silicon Valley
Next Big Future March 18, 2019 China’s Belt and Road has some questionable economic return potential. However, the Belt and Road is providing geopolitical returns. It has successful projects in Pakistan, Greece and some other countries. The projects are boosting the volume of trade with the countries in the Belt and Road. China is already second to the United States in large technology companies and second in billion+ dollar technology unicorn companies. Shenzhen is the location of this new silicon valley… read more.