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Category: computing – Page 42

A quantum “miracle material” could support magnetic switching, a team of researchers at the University of Regensburg and University of Michigan has shown.

The study “Controlling Coulomb correlations and fine structure of quasi-one-dimensional excitons by magnetic order” was published in Nature.

This recently discovered capability could help enable applications in , sensing and more. While earlier studies identified that quantum entities called excitons are sometimes effectively confined to a single line within the material chromium sulfide bromide, the new research provides a thorough theoretical and experimental demonstration explaining how this is connected to the magnetic order in the material.

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Scientists are racing to develop new materials for quantum technologies in computing and sensing for ultraprecise measurements. For these future technologies to transition from the laboratory to real-world applications, a much deeper understanding is needed of the behavior near surfaces, especially those at interfaces between materials.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have unveiled a new technique that could help advance the development of quantum technology. Their innovation, surface-sensitive spintronic (SSTS), provides an unprecedented look at how behave at interfaces.

The work is published in the journal Science Advances.

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Physicists have found a simple and effective way to skip over an energy level in a three-state system, potentially leading to increased quantum computational power with fewer qubits.

Nearly a century ago, Lev Landau, Clarence Zener, Ernst Stückelberg, and Ettore Majorana found a mathematical formula for the probability of jumps between two states in a system whose energy is time-dependent. Their formula has since had countless applications in various systems across physics and chemistry.

Now physicists at Aalto University’s Department of Applied Physics have shown that the jump between different states can be realized in systems with more than two via a virtual transition to an intermediate state and by a linear chirp of the drive frequency. This process can be applied to systems where it is not possible to modify the energy of the levels.

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Researchers at the University of Twente have solved a long-standing problem: trapping optically-generated sound waves in a standard silicon photonic chip. This discovery, published as a featured article in APL Photonics, opens new possibilities for radio technology, quantum communication, and optical computing.

Light travels extremely fast, while sound waves move much more slowly. By manipulating the interaction between light and sound—a physical phenomenon known as stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS)—researchers can find new ways to store and filter information in a compact chip.

This is useful in applications such as ultra-fast radio communication and quantum technology. But doing this in silicon photonic chips, one of the most important integrated photonics technologies today, was a major challenge.

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“ tabindex=”0” quantum computing and secure communications. Scientists have optimized materials and processes, making these detectors more efficient than ever.

Revolutionizing Electronics with Photon Detection

Light detection plays a crucial role in modern technology, from high-speed communication to quantum computing and sensing. At the heart of these systems are photon detectors, which identify and measure individual light particles (photons). One highly effective type is the superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD). These detectors use ultra-thin superconducting wires that instantly switch from a superconducting state to a resistive state when struck by a photon, enabling extremely fast detection.

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Scientists discovered that a species of fungus can sense its surroundings and make strategic decisions.

A new study suggests that the fungus Phanerochaete velutina might have a surprising ability — recognizing shapes and adjusting its growth strategy accordingly.

Researchers from Tohoku University conducted experiments where the fungus was placed in different spatial arrangements and observed how it spread. Rather than expanding indiscriminately, the mycelium formed connections, retracted excess strands, and focused its foraging in strategic directions.

In circular arrangements, tendrils avoided the center, while in cross-shaped formations, the outermost blocks served as primary hubs for exploration.

This behavior hints at a level of perception and decision-making previously unrecognized in fungi.

The findings add to growing evidence that fungi exhibit a form of primitive intelligence, capable of memory, learning, and problem-solving. Scientists believe this research could expand our understanding of cognition in non-animal organisms, as well as inspire innovations in bio-computing.

The ability of fungal networks to process information and optimize resource allocation without a brain challenges conventional ideas about intelligence. As studies continue, fungi may offer fascinating insights into decentralized decision-making and ecological adaptation.

Continue reading “Spatial resource arrangement influences both network structures and activity of fungal mycelia: A form of pattern recognition?” | >

Astronomer Calvin Leung was excited last summer to crunch data from a newly commissioned radio telescope to precisely pinpoint the origin of repeated bursts of intense radio waves—so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs)—emanating from somewhere in the northern constellation Ursa Minor.

Leung, a Miller Postdoctoral Fellowship recipient at the University of California, Berkeley, hopes eventually to understand the origins of these mysterious bursts and use them as probes to trace the large-scale structure of the universe, a key to its origin and evolution. He had written most of the computer code that allowed him and his colleagues to combine data from several telescopes to triangulate the position of a burst to within a hair’s width at arm’s length.

The excitement turned to perplexity when his collaborators on the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) turned optical telescopes on the spot and discovered that the source was in the distant outskirts of a long-dead elliptical galaxy that by all rights should not contain the kind of star thought to produce these bursts.

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