Category Physics

Professor Ebrahim Karimi, a member of uOttawa’s Department of Physics and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Structured Light, and doctoral student Frédéric Bouchard observe the setup they used to clone the photons that transmit information, called qudits.

As we saw during the 2016 US election, protecting traditional computer systems from hackers is not a perfect science. University of Ottawa have uncovered clues that could help administrators protect quantum computing networks from external attacks. “Our team has built the first high-dimensional quantum cloning machine capable of performing quantum hacking to intercept a secure quantum message,” said University of Ottawa Department of Physics professor Ebrahim Karimi, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Structured Light...

An artist’s rendition (appearing on the cover of the journal Advanced Functional Materials) of the charge carrier “traps” created by the addition of certain molecules to polymer semiconductor materials. Credit: Image courtesy of University of California – Santa Barbara

In what could be called a classic “Eureka” moment, UC Santa Barbara materials researchers have discovered a simple yet effective method for mastering the electrical properties of polymer semiconductors. The elegant technique allows for the efficient design and manufacture of organic circuitry (the type found in flexible displays and solar cells, for instance) of varying complexity while using the same semiconductor material throughout...

1. A near-perfect broadband absorber that’s thin, flexible and transparent in visible light. Credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
2. SEM images of a nanotube array: side view (left) and top view (right). Credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

Transparent window coatings that keep buildings and cars cool on sunny days. Devices that could more than triple solar cell efficiencies. Thin, lightweight shields that block thermal detection. These are potential applications for a thin, flexible, light-absorbing material developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego...

For the first time, researchers have simulated local magnetic anisotropy at the atomic level in a magnetic material based on experimental data. This figure shows changes in magnetic energy across individual iron and platinum atoms from an FePt nanoparticle.
Credit: Image courtesy of Markus Eisenbach and Nature

Barely wider than a strand of human DNA, magnetic nanoparticles – such as those made from iron and platinum atoms – are promising materials for next-generation recording and storage devices like hard drives. Building these devices from nanoparticles should increase storage capacity and density, but understanding how magnetism works at the level of individual atoms is critical to getting the best performance...