Category Physics

Researchers Demonstrate 3D Nanoscale Optical Disk Memory with Petabit Capacity

High-capacity data storage is indispensable in today's digital economy. However, major storage devices like hard disk drives and semiconductor flash devices face limitations in terms of cost-effectiveness, durability, and longevity.Read More

New Maser in a ‘Shoebox’ Promises Portable Precision

The new 'shoebox' maser in operation

Researchers in Imperial College London’s Department of Materials have developed a new portable maser that can fit the size of a shoebox.

Imperial College London pioneered the discovery of room-temperature solid-state masers in 2012, highlighting their ability to amplify extremely faint electrical signals and demonstrate high-frequency stability. This was a significant discovery because microwave signals can pass through the Earth’s atmosphere more easily than other wavelengths of light. Additionally, microwaves have the capability to penetrate through the human body, a feat not achievable by lasers.

Masers have extensive applications in telecommunications systems—everything from mobile phone networks to satellite navigation systems...

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New Chip Opens Door to AI Computing at Light Speed

Streaks of blue light representing information run from right to left.
Computing at the speed of light may reduce the energy cost of training AI. (Narongrit Doungmanee via Getty Images)

University of Pennsylvania engineers have developed a new chip that uses light waves, rather than electricity, to perform the complex math essential to training AI. The chip has the potential to radically accelerate the processing speed of computers while also reducing their energy consumption.

The silicon-photonic (SiPh) chip’s design is the first to bring together Benjamin Franklin Medal Laureate and H...

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A Physical Qubit with built-in Error Correction

The creation of a photonic “Schrödinger cat state” – in other words the quantum superposition of states of the laser pulse amplitude that can be distinguished on a macroscopic scale (white or black cat) – can only be achieved using the most advanced quantum optical techniques and has already been demonstrated to be possible. In the present experiment that is subject of the research paper, it proved to be feasible to extend this to three states (white, gray, and black cats). This light state thus approaches a logical quantum state in which errors can be, in principle, universally corrected. (ill./ ©: Peter van Loock)

There has been significant progress in the field of quantum computing.

Big global players, such as Google and IBM, are already offering cloud-based quantum com...

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