Lifeboat Foundation

Boy; wait until next month with China’s Quantum Launch.

By Munish Sharma.

Cyber has been one of the key discussion items during both Prime Minister Modi’s just concluded visit to the United States and President Xi Jinping’s visit to the US some nine months back. After Xi’s visit, China and the US signed a Cyber Agreement in October 2015. India and the US will ink a cyber agreement in the next sixty days. Notwithstanding these similarities, the intent of and expectations from these two agreements are fundamentally different; the former is an attempt to manage insecurity and the latter is a quest for security. An analysis of the joint statements issued at the end of the Modi and Xi visits to the US highlights the contrasting differences in India and China’s bilateral ties with the United States in the cyber realm.

Continue reading “India-US-China : US – Cyber And Bilateral Visits – Analysis” »

Another article on Quantum Security; this time from Sydney (generating single photons to make communications and information secured).

With enough computing effort most contemporary security systems will be broken. But a research team at the University of Sydney has made a major breakthrough in generating single photons (light particles), as carriers of quantum information in security systems.

The collaboration involving physicists at the Centre for Ultrahigh bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), an ARC Centre of Excellence headquartered in the School of Physics, and electrical engineers from the School of Electrical and Information Engineering, has been published in Nature Communications.

The team’s work resolved a key issue holding back the development of password exchange which can only be broken by violating the laws of physics. Photons are generated in a pair, and detecting one indicates the existence of the other. This allows scientists to manage the timing of photon events so that they always arrive at the time they are expected.

Continue reading “Breakthrough technology to improve cyber security” »

New research demonstrates that quantum dots solve a key issue with current 3D printing materials. I spoke with Keroles Riad, PhD student at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada, about his thesis on the photostability of materials used for stereolithography 3D printing. The research was supervised by Prof. Paula Wood-Adams, Prof. Rolf Wuthrich of the Mechanical and industrial engineering department at Concordia and Prof. Jerome Claverie of the Chemistry department at the University of Quebec in Montreal.

While quantum dots have been shown to cure acrylics, Riad says this work is the first demonstration of the process in epoxy resin.

3D printing is often richly rewarding because it spans multiple disciplines. Here we look at a new thesis that advances the critical area of materials. The approach taken uses engineering, chemistry and physics to overcome the issue of stability present in current stereolithography processes. The results could form the basis of superior materials and wider use of 3D printing in many areas.

Continue reading “Quantum dots may hold key to superior 3D printing materials” »

For the first time, scientists have discovered a classic formula for pi in the world of quantum physics. Pi is the ratio between a circle’s circumference and its diameter, and is incredibly important in pure mathematics, but now scientists have also found it “lurking” in the world of physics, when using quantum mechanics to compare the energy levels of a hydrogen atom.

Why is that exciting? Well, it reveals an incredibly special and previously unknown connection between quantum physics and maths.

“I find it fascinating that a purely mathematical formula from the 17th century characterises a physical system that was discovered 300 years later,” said one of the lead researchers, Tamar Friedmann, a mathematician at the University of Rochester in the US. Seriously, wow.

Continue reading “A classic formula for pi has been discovered hidden in hydrogen atoms” »

Want to invest in Quantum Computing; well, you may soon be able to according to this article.

Harris & Harris Group (TINY) a company that builds companies from disruptive science, believes D-Wave’s System’s quantum computers can solve challenging and relevant problems.

Great article; and does an excellent job in explaining how traditional QC operates in an analog or non-analog/ digital state; and Lee introduces us to a third pseudo-hybrid state sometimes referred to as adiabatic quantum computer. I must admit Chris Lee’s 1st remark “There are many different schemes for making quantum computers work (most of them evil).” threw me for a loop and then quickly understood it’s part of his humor which is certainly a way to capture the reader’s attention quickly.

BTW — This is one of the best write ups and POVs on QC that I have read so far.

Digital quantum network cleans up analog noise, allows quantum computation.

Continue reading “Going digital may make analog quantum computer scaleable” »

Wow and just in time for China’s Quantum Satellite launch next month.

News about this “extreme” decision has drawn ire from many Singaporeans who have criticised the government’s decision on social media.

But, in a surprise move, the Singaporean government has resorted to limiting the Internet access for government work stations for over a year for security reasons. The system of “No internet” for public servants should be more clear-cut, experts say.

Continue reading “Singapore is turning off the internet in drastic plan to bolster cybersecurity” »

The process begins with tiny, nanoscale diamonds that contain a specific type of impurity: a single nitrogen atom where a carbon atom should be, with an empty space right next to it, resulting from a second missing carbon atom. This “nitrogen vacancy” impurity gives each diamond special optical and electromagnetic properties.

By attaching other materials to the diamond grains, such as metal particles or semiconducting materials known as “quantum dots,” the researchers can create a variety of customizable hybrid nanoparticles, including nanoscale semiconductors and magnets with precisely tailored properties.

“If you pair one of these diamonds with silver or gold nanoparticles, the metal can enhance the nanodiamond’s optical properties. If you couple the nanodiamond to a semiconducting quantum dot, the hybrid particle can transfer energy more efficiently,” said Min Ouyang, an associate professor of physics at UMD and senior author on the study.

Check this out!

UChicago hasthis been able for the first time conduct an experiment shows the behavior of quantum materials in curved space. In their own words, “We are beginning to make our photons interact with each other. This opens up many possibilities, such as making crystalline or exotic quantum liquid states of light. We can then see how they respond to spatial curvature.”

Interplay of light, matter is of potential technological interest

Continue reading “UChicago Physicists First to See Behavior of Quantum Materials in Curved Space” »