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Researchers create working quantum bit in silicon, pave way for PCs of the future
If you've been paying attention, you know the quantum computing revolution is coming -- and so far the world has a mini quantum network, not to mention the $10,000 D-Wave One, to show for it. Researchers from the University of Melbourne and University College, London, have now developed the "first working quantum bit based on a single atom of silicon." By measuring and manipulating the magnetic orientation, or spin, of an electron bound to a phosphorus atom embedded in a silicon chip, the scientists were able to both read and write information, forming a qubit, the basic unit of data for quantum computing. The team used a silicon transistor, which detects the electron's spin and captures its energy when the spin's direction is "up." Once the electron is in the transistor, scientists can change its spin state any way they choose, effectively "writing" information and giving them control of the quantum bit. The next step will be combing two qubits into a logic step, with the ultimate goal being a full-fledged quantum computer capable of crunching numbers, cracking encryption codes and modeling molecules that would put even supercomputers to shame. But, you know, baby steps.
IBM creates consistent electron spin inside semiconductors, takes spintronics one twirl closer
A fundamental challenge of developing spintronics, or computing where the rotation of electrons carries instructions and other data rather than the charge, has been getting the electrons to spin for long enough to shuttle data to its destination in the first place. IBM and ETH Zurich claim to be the first achieving that feat by getting the electrons to dance to the same tune. Basing a semiconductor material on gallium arsenide and bringing the temperature to an extremely low -387F, the research duo have created a persistent spin helix that keeps the spin going for the 1.1 nanoseconds it would take a normal 1GHz processor to run through its full cycle, or 30 times longer than before. As impressive as it can be to stretch atomic physics that far, just remember that the theory is some distance from practice: unless you're really keen on running a computer at temperatures just a few hops away from absolute zero, there's work to be done on producing transistors (let alone processors) that safely run in the climate of the family den. Assuming that's within the realm of possibility, though, we could eventually see computers that wring much more performance per watt out of one of the most basic elements of nature.
Scientists generate 281-gigapixel cell map using electron microscope
Electron microscopes can produce incredibly detailed and even 3D views of sub-cellular structures, but often at the cost of losing the bigger picture. Researchers at Leiden University in the Netherlands, however, have leveraged a technique called virtual nanoscopy that enables researchers to observe the whole of a cell and its intricate details in a single image. With the method, the team stitches together nanometer resolution photographs of what's gone under the scope to create a map with adjustable zoom a la Google Maps. Their study created a 281-gigapixel image (packed with 16 million pixels per inch) of a 1.5-millimeter-long zebrafish embryo. If you'd like to take a gander at the ultra-high resolution fish or read up on the group's findings for yourself, check out the source links below.
Beam-switching endows electron microscopes with 3D, added gross-out
Having haunted our curtailed childhoods with tiny, disgusting horrors, the scanning electron microscope is about to get a new lease of life in 3D. Researchers in Japan have figured out how to deflect the electron beam rapidly to give two slightly shifted views, so real-time 3D images can now been scoped on a monitor without even the need for eye-wear. Current gear can only muster flat images, so it's always been painfully slow for scientists to extract convexity and other details from objects. Though the 3D-version is lower-res than the old way, at least now all those slimy mandibles and egg sacs will be right there in your face. Nice.
Flawed diamonds are perfect ingredients for quantum computing, just add time travel
Ready to suspend your brain cells in a superposition of disbelief? Good, because the latest news published in Nature is that diamonds are a quantum computer's best friend -- particularly if they're flawed. An international team of scientists sought out sub-atomic impurities in a 1mm-thick fragment of over-priced carbon and used these as qubits to perform successful calculations. A "rogue" nitrogen nucleus provided one qubit, while a free electron became a second. Unlike previous attempts at solid-state quantum computing, this new effort used an extra technique to protect the system from decoherence errors: microwave pulses were fired at the electron qubit to "time-reverse" inconsistencies in its spinning motion. Don't fully get it? Us neither. In any case, it probably won't stop jewellers tut-tutting to themselves.
Scientists create first solar cell with over 100 percent quantum efficiency
Researchers over at the National Renewable Energy Lab have reportedly made the first solar cell with an external quantum efficiency over 100 percent. Quantum efficiency relates to the number of electrons-per-second flowing in a solar cell circuit, divided by the number of photons from the energy entering. The NREL team recorded an efficiency topping out at 114 percent, by creating the first working multiple exciton generation (MEG) cell. Using MEG, a single high energy photon can produce more than one electron-hole pair per absorbed photon. The extra efficiency comes from quantum dots 'harvesting' energy that would otherwise be lost as heat. The cell itself uses anti-reflection coating on a transparent conductor, layered with zinc oxide, lead selenide, and gold. NREL scientist Arthur J. Nozik predicted as far back as 2001 that MEG would do the job, but it's taken until now for the concept to leap over from theory. The hope is, of course, that this will lead to more competitively priced solar power, fueling the transport of the future.
Nuclear clocks could be 60x as accurate as atomic counterparts, less prone to errors
For years, atomic clocks have been considered the most accurate devices for tracking the slow march towards obsolescence, a subatomic particle vibrating a given number of times per second with relatively few issues. Now the reliability crown might be passed to the nuclear clock, which in addition to sounding gnarly, could prove to be less susceptible to errors from outside stimuli. It goes like this: although an atomic clock will measure a certain number of vibrations per second, external forces such as ambient electric and magnetic fields affect the electrons used in atomic clocks, causing mishaps. The particles used in nuclear clocks that are measured for vibrations -- and thus timekeeping -- can be excited with a relatively low-energy ultraviolet light, allowing for fewer variations from the aforementioned fields. To wit, Corey Campbell and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta have devised a scheme that uses lasers to carefully control the spatial orientation of the electron orbits in atoms. A nuclear clock containing a thorium nucleus controlled in this way would drift by just one second in 200 billion years, the team claims. Before nuclear clocks become a reality, researchers must identify the precise frequency of light needed to excite thorium nuclei; but this is what grad students are for, right? [Image credit: University of Colorado / Science Daily]
Scientists manipulate electron, this time everyone wins
Notoriously difficult to pin down, electrons have always been free spirits -- until now that is. According to a paper published by science journal Nature, folk at Cambridge University much cleverer than we have tamed single electrons, succeeding in coaxing them directly from point-to-point. The technique involves creating a small hole in gallium arsenide, called a "quantum dot," then creating a channel of energy higher than the neighboring electrons to shuttle cargo off to another empty "dot." Why should you care? Well, while you might not see this technology in the next smartphone, it should give quantum computing a bit of a nudge forward, smoothing the rate of information transfer. If the concept works out, it'll improve the way qubits move around those sub-atomic circuits, where jumping around like a frog in a sock is generally considered bad form. [Image courtesy of the io9]
Ultra-pure material lets electrons discover each other on the quantum dance floor
These guys aren't Purdue University professors, they're DJs. That thing on the left? It isn't a high-mobility gallium-arsenide molecular beam epitaxy system, it's their decks. It creates an ultra-pure material so perfectly latticed that it traps electrons between its layers and stops them bouncing around like drunken fools at the high school prom. By squeezing them ever so tightly, it lulls the particles into an "exotic" slow dance, at which point they become "aware" of each other and start performing correlated motions that are essential for quantum computing. That's a still a long way off, but if one day we find ourselves affixing gallium arsenide swabs to our quantum motherboards, we'll raise our lighters in the air. Informative PR after the break.
Spiritual Guidance: Priest healing tactics for Omnotron Defense System and Magmaw
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers healing for discipline and holy priests, while her archenemy Fox Van Allen dabbles in shadow and shovels his way out of a snow storm that Dawn has absolutely nothing to do with (the cookies are in the mail, Christian.) Dawn also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. So at this point, you've probably restored the world pillar, been solely entrusted to protecting Hyjal by a demi-goddess, and made off with several dozen pigs (or pumpkins) from the poor farmers of your faction's capital city. You've probably also ventured into countless enemy strongholds and slain everything from wind dragons to rock monsters -- or at least had a panic attack trying to heal the guys doing the slaying. You sure are amazing, and everyone knows it (except the Guardians of Hyjal reputation vendor), so it's not surprising that about now you've been called upon by other heroes to delve deep into the deepest, darkest lairs of Azeroth so you can fulfill your destiny of spamming Prayer of Healing on groups 1 and 2. Sound good? Excellent. If you haven't guessed already, during the next few weeks, the healing side of Spiritual Guidance will be taking a tour of tier 11 raid content and discussing how to best approach it as a holy or discipline priest. If you're ready, let's get started.
WoW Insider's Guide to the Omnotron Defense System
Power Conversion converts incoming damage into increased DPS. Purge or steal the spell or stop DPS. This usually forces you to switch to the next tron.
Scientists put color on your bling with micro carvings, gangsters pacified
Remember that time when you sipped some herbal tea and thought, "I really want a pink gold ring?" Yeah, that was some good tea alright, but the brainiacs at the University of Southampton have actually found a way to achieve this potential fashion trendsetter. The idea is simple: rather than coating metals -- especially naturally colored ones like gold and copper -- with paint, these folks alter their color by using an ion beam to carve fine patterns that are smaller than visible light's wavelength. The resultant metamaterial dramatically boosts the metals' light absorption efficiency, thus reflecting a different color depending on the pattern's radius and etch depth. So for instance, gold can reflect colors ranging from orange to red to green to brown with its ring pattern etch depth ranging from 85nm to 205nm, respectively. See? We told you it's simple, but there's also some visual aid after the break to wrap up this science lesson.
EA giving free game to disgruntled APB buyers [Updated]
reddit_url = "http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/27/ea-giving-free-game-to-disgruntled-apb-buyers/"; Tweet Ticked off about the recent closure of Realtime Worlds' All Points Bulletin? Well you're not alone, and surprisingly enough it seems like Electronic Arts has heard your cries for justice. According to reports from CVG and SavyGamer, the publishing giant is ponying up a free download from the EA Store for customers who purchased APB via Valve's Steam digital distribution platform. The list of possible freebies is nothing to sneeze at either, as it includes BioWare darlings Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, as well as Spore, The Saboteur, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and several more. There's currently no word on refunds or compensation for those who purchased the ill-fated urban crime MMOFPS from retail outlets or other digital shops. [Editor's Note: Having just gone through this process myself, I can tell you that it's easy and virtually painless. Simply visit www.ea.com, choose your country of origin, visit the support link in the upper right hand corner, and log into your EA account. Once that's done, click the "contact us/email us" button to create a new question to ask the EA support representatives. Select APB as the game in question and tell them that you own the game, where you bought it, and that you'd like to take advantage of their refund offer. The representative will ask you to make a list of games you'd like (pre-order titles are excluded and only games in the EA store are being offered) and that's it! Once you send your list, they'll give you a game (most likely your first choice) and you can download it using their instructions. ~Seraphina]
UTexas researchers develop organic battery, aim for week-long use in smartphones
Christopher Bielawski, a brilliant mind working at the University of Texas at Austin, had this to say about his newest discovery: "I would love it if my iPhone was thinner and lighter, and the battery lasted a month or even a week instead of a day; with an organic battery, it may be possible." Anyone that has ever owned an iPhone (or a smartphone or any sort, really) can grok just how bold those words are, but according to Mr. Bielawski, "we're now starting to get a handle on the fundamental chemistry needed to make this dream a commercial reality." At the center of this potential revolution is a newfangled organic battery recently detailed in the journal Science, but just as important is the artificial photosynthesis that the research also touches on. Bielawski and colleague Jonathan Sessler have seemingly figured out how to create an electron transfer process that can proceed in the opposite direction, with this forward and backward switching of electron flow opening up new avenues for the historically stagnant battery innovation market. Granted, these guys have yet to demonstrate that the process can occur in a condensed phase, so actual commercialization is probably a century millennium or two out, but hey -- at least our list of "awesome thing that'll probably never happen" has grown by one.
Intel's 50Gbps Silicon Photonics Link shines a light on future computers (video)
Using copper cables to transfer data around a computer? Get your head out of the sand, Grandpa! Intel thinks that's on the outs and is touting its recent accomplishments with Silicon Photonics and integrated lasers, using light pulses to move data at 50Gbps (last time we heard Intel tout the tech was when it hit 40Gbps speeds in 2007). The emphasis is on low-cost, high-speed fiber optics, the removal of cable clutter, and with the speed boost, the ability to try new system designs by being able to space chips and components farther apart from one another without as much hit on speed -- all theoretical at this point, of course. Researchers hopes to hit terabit per second speeds further down the line. As for John Q. Consumer, enjoy the progress from afar but don't count on seeing this technology hit Newegg anytime soon. Video after the break.
Scientists use single electron pump to take subatomic particles for a spin
German and Latvian researchers at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) have successfully demonstrated how a single electron pump can be used to give the elementary particles a predefined "spin." Aptly titled spintronics, the technology aims to manipulate a quantum-level property of electrons similar to the north-south axes in magnets. The results would be faster chips that require less energy than current electronics, which deal in electron movement. Of course, all of this is still a ways off from consumer use, so don't expect to be overclocking your electron pumps anytime soon. Science-minded readers would be advised to hit up the read link to peruse the research paper.[Via Nanowerk and Spintronics-Info]
Another breakthrough purportedly brings us closer to quantum computing
In reality, quite a bit of time has passed since we've heard of the next great leap in the (seemingly) never-ending journey towards quantum computing, but we're incredibly relieved to learn that at least someone is still out there, somewhere, pressing on. An international team of researchers have reportedly shown that they can "control the quantum state of a single electron in a silicon transistor, even putting the electron in two places at once." Essentially, the team is using tiny semiconductor transistors to "control the state of a quantum system," but there is still a long ways to go before any of this is meaningful. The crew managed to discover a few things by chance, yet to create a quantum computer, they would need to "position atoms of arsenic (or some other material) in the transistors more reliably." For those of you way too geeked out, fret not -- we'll let you know when all of this technobabble finally amounts to something.[Thanks, Chris]
Monster's Linux-based network media and automation devices
Monster Cable, the company best known for its, um, cabling, has announced more information about its network media and home automation devices recently displayed at CEDIA. Everything in the Monster Einstein system is controlled by the Nucleus head-end, which runs the home automation and control elements, using Z-Wave and Bluetooth to control sensors and devices throughout the home, as well as interfacing with the media devices on the network. It has gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n network capabilities as well as a VOIP interface, and should retail for around $4000. The $2500 Electron components are the client end points and connect to the televisions and receivers on the network. You'll want at least one Photon 200-disc DVD changer in the system, because even though they're $2400 they have dual transports, meaning two different discs can be played simultaneously over the network. Also plan on attaching one or more of the $4900 Neutron RAID5-capable storage boxes -- each comes with 960 gigs of storage standard but can scale up to 7.2 terabytes. Other devices in the chain include the $1500 Astro Sirius satellite radio tuner with three zones, and the $1300 Tron seven-inch touch panel. Keep reading for more specifics, as well as another shot of the "monster" Photon changer...
