Quantifying so-called quantum magic is essential for realizing a universal quantum computer. A proposed “magic meter” could achieve such a goal.
Category: computing
Efficient quantum process tomography for enabling scalable optical quantum computing
Optical quantum computers are gaining attention as a next-generation computing technology with high speed and scalability. However, accurately characterizing complex optical processes, where multiple optical modes interact to generate quantum entanglement, has been considered an extremely challenging task.
A KAIST research team has overcome this limitation, developing a highly efficient technique that enables complete characterization of complex multimode quantum operations in experiment. This technology, which can analyze large-scale operations with less data, represents an important step toward scalable quantum computing and quantum communication technologies.
A research team led by Professor Young-Sik Ra from the Department of Physics has developed a Multimode Quantum Process Tomography technique capable of efficiently identifying the characteristics of second-order nonlinear optical quantum processes that are essential for optical quantum computing.
Cloudflare hit by outage affecting global network services
Cloudflare is investigating an outage affecting its global network services, with users encountering “internal server error” messages when attempting to access affected websites and online platforms.
Cloudflare’s Global Network is a distributed infrastructure of servers and data centers located in over 330 cities across more than 120 countries, delivering content delivery, security, and performance optimization services.
It has 449 Tbps global network edge capacity and connects Cloudflare to over 13,000 networks, including every major ISP, cloud provider, and enterprise worldwide.
Green-synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles from desert plants show broad antimicrobial activity
As drug-resistant infections continue to rise, researchers are looking for new antimicrobial strategies that are both effective and sustainable. One emerging approach combines nanotechnology with “green” chemistry, using plant extracts instead of harsh chemicals to produce metal oxide nanoparticles.
A new study published in Biomolecules and Biomedicine now reports that zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) biosynthesized from four desert plants with medicinal properties can inhibit a wide spectrum of bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi in laboratory tests. The work also links the plants’ rich phytochemical profiles to nanoparticle stability and potency, and uses computer modeling to explore how key compounds might interact with microbial targets.
The study is the first to produce ZnONPs from species that thrive in harsh, arid environments and are often under-used or even considered invasive. “By turning resilient desert plants into tiny zinc oxide particles, we were able to generate materials that are both eco-friendly to produce and surprisingly active against a range of microbes,” the authors write. “These green nanoparticles could form the basis for future antimicrobial formulations, pending further safety and efficacy testing.”
A unified model of memory and perception: How Hebbian learning explains our recall of past events
A collaboration between SISSA’s Physics and Neuroscience groups has taken a step forward in understanding how memories are stored and retrieved in the brain. The study, recently published in Neuron, shows that distinct perceptual biases—long thought to arise from separate brain systems—can, in fact, be explained by a single, biologically grounded mechanism.
The research, led by professors Sebastian Goldt and Mathew E. Diamond, and first author Francesca Schönsberg (now a junior research chair at the École Normale Supérieure), brings together theoretical physics, computational modeling, and behavioral neuroscience to bridge decades of fragmented research on perceptual memory. Yukti Chopra and Davide Giana carried out laboratory experiments to provide the empirical data that the model was tested against.
Lead-free alternative discovered for essential electronics component
Ferroelectric materials are used in infrared cameras, medical ultrasounds, computer memory and actuators that turn electric properties into mechanical properties and vice-versa. Most of these essential materials, however, contain lead and can therefore be toxic.
“For the last 10 years, there has been a huge initiative all over the world to find ferroelectric materials that do not contain lead,” said Laurent Bellaiche, Distinguished Professor of physics at the University of Arkansas.
The atoms in a ferroelectric material can have more than one crystalline structure. Where two crystalline structures meet is called a phase boundary, and the properties that make ferroelectric materials useful are strongest at these boundaries.
Unprecedented Perlmutter Simulation Details Quantum Chip
Designing quantum chips incorporates traditional microwave engineering in addition to advanced low-temperature physics. This makes a classical electromagnetic modeling tool like ARTEMIS, which was developed as part of the DOE’s Exascale Computing Project initiative, a natural choice for this type of modeling.
A large simulation for a tiny chip
Not every quantum chip simulation calls for so much computing capacity, but modeling the miniscule details of this tiny, extremely complex chip required nearly all of Perlmutter’s power. The researchers used almost all of its 7,168 NVIDIA GPUs over a period of 24 hours to capture the structure and function of a multi-layered chip measuring just 10 millimeters square and 0.3 millimeters thick, with etchings just one micron wide.
