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Heavier hydrogen makes silicon T centers shine brighter for quantum networks

Quantum technologies, computers or other devices that operate leveraging quantum mechanical effects, rely on the precise control of light and matter. Over the past decades, quantum physicists and material scientists have been trying to identify systems that can reliably generate photons (i.e., light particles) and could thus be used to create quantum technologies.

One approach for generating photons relies on silicon color centers, such as the emerging T center. Color centers are defects or irregularities in the crystal structure of silicon characterized by a different arrangement of atoms.

The T center and other silicon color centers can emit light in the wavelength band that is already used by fiber-optic internet cables, which is desirable for the development of quantum networks and quantum communication systems.

National report supports measurement innovation to aid commercial fusion energy and enable new plasma technologies

To operate fusion systems safely and reliably, scientists need to monitor plasma fuel conditions and measure properties like temperature and density that can affect fusion reactions. Making these measurements requires specialized sensors known as diagnostics.

A new report sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recommends increased investment in America’s fusion diagnostic capabilities, a critical new technology that could provide DOE and Congress with information to speed up the delivery of commercial fusion power plants.

The report was produced as part of the DOE’s 2024 Basic Research Needs Workshop on Measurement Innovation, sponsored by the DOE’s Office of Science’s Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program. It was chaired by Luis Delgado-Aparicio, head of advanced projects at the DOE’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), and co-chaired by Sean Regan, a distinguished scientist and the director of the Experimental Division at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Laser-within-a-laser delivers MeV X-ray radiography in picoseconds

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the hottest place on Earth for the briefest of moments during an experiment. Now, it can be one of the brightest places thanks to the Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC), NIF’s laser-within-a-laser. How this is possible and how it’s measured is detailed in a paper in Physics of Plasmas titled “Development and scaling of MeV X-ray radiography at NIF-ARC.”

“This paper is a culmination of 13 NIF experiments over five years of data gathering, analyzing experiments, modeling and refining diagnostics,” said LLNL physicist Dean Rusby, the paper’s first author. “We’re able to create and measure an MeV X-ray source that can’t be done anywhere else on Earth.”

Scientists unveil universal aging mechanism in glassy materials

“Glass” has a unique and distinct meaning in physics—one that refers not just to the transparent material we associate with window glass. Instead, it refers to any system that looks solid but is not in true equilibrium and continues to change extremely slowly over time. Examples include window glass, plastics, metallic glasses, spin glasses (i.e., magnetic systems), and even some biological and computational systems.

When a liquid is cooled very quickly—a process called quenching—it doesn’t have time to organize into a crystal but becomes stuck in a disordered state far from equilibrium. Its properties—like stiffness and structure—slowly evolve through a process called “aging.”

Now, a research team from the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has proposed a new theoretical framework for understanding the universal aging behavior of glassy materials. The study is published in the journal Science Advances.

Fake Google Security site uses PWA app to steal credentials, MFA codes

A phishing campaign is using a fake Google Account security page to deliver a web-based app capable of stealing one-time passcodes, harvesting cryptocurrency wallet addresses, and proxying attacker traffic through victims’ browsers.

The attack leverages Progressive Web App (PWA) features and social engineering to deceive users into believing they are interacting with a legitimate Google Security web page and inadvertently installing the malware.

PWAs run in the browser and can be installed from a website, just like a standalone regular application, which is displayed in its own window without any visible browser controls.

Florida woman imprisoned for massive Microsoft license fraud scheme

A Florida woman was sentenced to 22 months in prison for running a massive years-long scheme to traffic thousands of stolen Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity (COA) labels.

52-year-old Heidi Richards (also known as Heidi Hastings, Heidi Shaffer, and Heidi Williams), who operated an e-commerce business called Trinity Software Distribution, was also ordered to pay a $50,000 fine.

COA labels are small stickers that authenticate software and carry unique product key codes used to activate products distributed on physical media, such as Microsoft’s Windows operating system and Office productivity suite.

How Deepfakes and Injection Attacks Are Breaking Identity Verification

Deepfakes and injection attacks are targeting identity verification moments, from onboarding to account recovery. Incode explains why enterprises must validate the full session—media, device integrity, and behavior—to stop synthetic and injected attacks in real time.

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