Category Technology/Electronics

A density functional theory calculation showed the magnetic properties of a fluorinated sample of hexagonal boron nitride. This version is ferromagnetic, determined by how the fluorine atoms (red) attach to the boron and nitrogen matrix.
Credit: Ajayan Group/Rice University

Researchers turn common insulator, 2D hexagonal boron nitride, h-BN (white graphene) into a magnetic semiconductor. A little fluorine turns an insulating ceramic known as white graphene into a wide-bandgap semiconductor with magnetic properties. Rice University scientists said that could make the unique material suitable for electronics in extreme environments...

A metal nanosponge is shown under the microscope.
Credit: Jordi Sort/UAB

To store information in conventional magnetic memories of electronic devices, the small magnetic domains work by pointing up or down according to the magnetic fields. To generate these fields it is necessary to produce electric currents, but these currents heat up materials and much energy is spent cooling them. Practically 40% of the electrical energy going into computers (or “Big Data” servers) dissipates as heat. In 2007, French scientists observed that when the magnetic materials are put into ultra-thin layers and voltage is applied, the amount of current and energy needed to point the magnetic domains was reduced by 4%. However, this slight reduction was not significant enough to be applied to devices.

A research ...

1. The atomic part of the hybrid experiment. The atoms are contained in a micro-cell inside the magnetic shield seen in the middle. Photo: Ola J. Joensen 2. The optomechanical part of the hybrid experiment. The cryostat seen in the middle houses the vibrating membrane whose quantum motion is measured. Photo: Ola J. Joensen 3, If laser light used to measure motion of a vibrating membrane (left) is first transmitted through an atom cloud (center) the measurement sensitivity can be better than standard quantum limits envisioned by Bohr and Heisenberg. Photo: Bastian Leonhardt Strube and Mads Vadsholt

University of Copenhagen scientists have developed a hands-on answer to a challenge linked to Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle...

1. Flow Ambiguity: A Path Towards Classically Driven Blind Quantum Computation. Physical Review X, 2017; 7 (3) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.7.031004
2. Illustration of an exemplary run of Protocol 1

Researchers suggest you could operate a quantum computer in the cloud without revealing your data or the program you’re running. Here’s the scenario: you have sensitive data and a problem that only a quantum computer can solve. You have no quantum devices yourself. You could buy time on a quantum computer, but you don’t want to give away your secrets. What can you do? Writing in Physical Review X on 11 July, researchers in Singapore and Australia propose a way you could use a quantum computer securely, even over the internet. The technique could hide both your data and program from the computer itself...