NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT (TYO:9432), today announced that it has reached an agreement with the University of Notre Dame to conduct joint research between its Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab and the Universitys Department of Physics. The five-year agreement covers research to be undertaken by Dr. Zoltn Toroczkai, a professor of theoretical physics, on the limits of continuous-time analog computing. Because the Coherent Ising Machine (CIM), an optical device that is key to the PHI Labs research agenda, exhibits characteristics related to those of analog computers, one purpose of this project is to explore avenues for improving CIM performance.

The three primary fields of the PHI Lab include quantum-to-classical crossover physics, neural networks and optical parametric oscillators. The work with Dr. Toroczkai addresses an opportunity for tradeoffs in the classical domain between analog computing performance and controllable variables with arbitrarily high precision. Interest in analog computing has rebounded in recent years thanks to modern manufacturing techniques and the technologys efficient use of energy, which leads to improved computational performance. Implemented with the Ising model, analog computing schemes now figure within some emerging quantum information systems. Special-purpose, continuous time analog devices have been able to outperform state-of-the-art digital algorithms, but they also fail on some classes of problems. Dr. Toroczkais research will explore the theoretical limits of analog computing and focus on two approaches to achieving improved performance using less precise variables, or (in the context of the CIM) a less identical pulse amplitude landscape.

Were very excited to have the University of Notre Dame and Professor Toroczkai, a specialist in analog computing, join our growing consortium of researchers engaged in rethinking the limits and possibilities of computing, said NTT Research PHI Lab Director Yoshihisa Yamamoto. We see his work at the intersection of hard, optimization problems and analog computing systems that can efficiently solve them as very promising.

The agreement identifies research subjects and project milestones between 2020 and 2024. It anticipates Dr. Toroczkai and a graduate student conducting research at Notre Dame, adjacent to South Bend, Indiana, while collaborating with scientists at the PHI Lab in California. Recent work by Dr. Toroczkai related to this topic includes publications in Computer Physics Communications and Nature Communications. Like the PHI Lab itself, he brings to his research both domain expertise and a broad vision.

I work in the general area of complex systems research, bringing and developing tools from mathematics, equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory to bear on problems in a range of disciplines, including the foundations of computing, said Dr. Toroczkai, who is also a concurrent professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and co-director of the Center for Network and Data Science. This project with NTT Research is an exciting opportunity to engage in basic research that will bear upon the future of computing.

The NTT Research PHI Lab has now reached nine joint research projects as part of its long-range goal to radically redesign artificial neural networks, both classical and quantum. To advance that goal, the PHI Lab has established joint research agreements with six other universities, one government agency and one quantum computing software company. Those universities are California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Cornell University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Michigan. The government entity is NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, and the private company is 1Qbit in Canada. In addition to its PHI Lab, NTT Research has two other research labs: its Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab and Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab.

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NTT Research and University of Notre Dame Collaborate to Explore Continuous-Time Analog Computing - Quantaneo, the Quantum Computing Source

The Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University (IU) Bloomington invites applications for a tenure track assistant professor position in Computer Science to begin in Fall 2021. We are particularly interested in candidates with research interests in formal models of computation, algorithms, information theory, and machine learning with connection to quantum computation, quantum simulation, or quantum information science. The successful candidate will also be a Quantum Computing and Information Science Faculty Fellow supported in part for the first three years by an NSF-funded program that aims to grow academic research capacity in the computing and information science fields to support advances in quantum computing and/or communication over the long term. For additional information about the NSF award please visit: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1955027&HistoricalAwards=false. The position allows the faculty member to collaborate actively with colleagues from a variety of outside disciplines including the departments of physics, chemistry, mathematics and intelligent systems engineering, under the umbrella of the Indiana University funded "quantum science and engineering center" (IU-QSEc). We seek candidates prepared to contribute to our commitment to diversity and inclusion in higher education, especially those with experience in teaching or working with diverse student populations. Duties will include research, teaching multi-level courses both online and in person, participating in course design and assessment, and service to the School. Applicants should have a demonstrable potential for excellence in research and teaching and a PhD in Computer Science or a related field expected before August 2021. Candidates should review application requirements, learn more about the Luddy School and apply online at: https://indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/9841. For full consideration submit online application by December 1, 2020. Applications will be considered until the positions are filled. Questions may be sent to sabry@indiana.edu. Indiana University is an equal employment and affirmative action employer and a provider of ADA services. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ethnicity, color, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, national origin, disability status or protected veteran status.

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Assistant Professor in Computer Science job with Indiana University | 286449 - The Chronicle of Higher Education

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives her first State of the Union speech during a plenary session of European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium September 16, 2020. Olivier Hoslet/Pool via REUTERS

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders will ask the EU executive next week to name strategic areas where the bloc relies too much on countries such as China and the United States, and to propose ways to make it more independent, according to a document seen by Reuters.

In draft conclusions for a summit on Sept. 24-25, the member states leaders say they want European industry to be more competitive globally and to increase its autonomy and resilience.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the EUs dependence on Chinese components in the production of drugs, and concern is mounting that it is lagging the United States in the design and manufacture of batteries and in digital cloud storage.

The 27-nation bloc has set digital and green technologies as priorities, goals that were underlined in a state of the union speech on Wednesday by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, the EU executive.

The bloc wants to finance the transformation to such technologies by using much of its 750-billion-euro ($890-dollar) fund for kick-starting the economy after the pandemic.

The draft conclusions - which could still be subject to change before the Brussels summit - show leaders would name the European Battery Alliance, the Internet of Things and Clean Hydrogen Alliance as projects for the EU to focus on.

They will also call for the development of new industrial alliances, including on raw materials, micro-processors, telecommunication networks, low-carbon industries, and Industrial Clouds and Platforms.

The leaders will also declare they want a significant part of the 1.8 trillion euros that will be available to EU countries under the blocs budget and recovery package over the next seven years to be invested in supercomputers and quantum computing, blockchain, human-centred Artificial Intelligence, microprocessors, 5G mobile networks or protection against cyber threats and secure communications.

Reporting by Jan Strupczewski and Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by John Chalmers and Timothy Heritage

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EU leaders to ask European Commission to name areas of strategic weakness - Reuters

Keeping qubits stable those quantum equivalents of classic computing bits will be key to realising the potential of quantum computing. Now scientists have found a new obstacle to this stability: natural radiation.

Natural or background radiation comes from all sorts of sources, both natural and artificial. Cosmic rays contribute to natural radiation, for example, and so do concrete buildings. It's around us all the time, and so this poses something of a problem for future quantum computers.

Through a series of experiments that altered the level of natural radiation around qubits, physicists have been able to establish that this background buzz does indeed nudge qubits off balance in a way that stops them from functioning properly.

"Our study is the first to show clearly that low-level ionising radiation in the environment degrades the performance of superconducting qubits," says physicist John Orrell, from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

"These findings suggest that radiation shielding will be necessary to attain long-sought performance in quantum computers of this design."

Natural radiation is by no means the most significant or the only threat to qubit stability, which is technically known as coherence everything from temperature fluctuations to electromagnetic fields can break the qubit 'spell'.

But the scientists say if we're to reach a future where quantum computers are taking care of our most advanced computing needs, then this interference from natural radiation is going to have to be dealt with.

It was after experiencing problems with superconducting qubit decoherence that the team behind the new study decided to investigate the possible problem with natural radiation. They found it breaks up a key quantum binding called a Cooper pair of electrons.

"The radiation breaks apart matched pairs of electrons that typically carry electric current without resistance in a superconductor," says physicist Brent VanDevender, from PNNL. "The resistance of those unpaired electrons destroys the delicately prepared state of a qubit."

Classical computers can be disrupted by the same issues that affect qubits, but quantum states are much more delicate and sensitive. One of the reasons that we don't have genuine full-scale quantum computers today is that no one can keep qubits stable for more than a few milliseconds at a time.

If we can improve on that, the benefits in terms of computing power could be huge: whereas classical computing bits can only be set as 1 or 0, qubits can be set as 1, 0 or both at the same time (known as superposition).

Scientists have been able to get it happening, but only for a very short space of time and in a very tightly controlled environment. The good news is that researchers like those at PNNL are committed to the challenge of figuring out how to make quantum computers a reality and now we know a bit more about what we're up against.

"Practical quantum computing with these devices will not be possible unless we address the radiation issue," says VanDevender. "Without mitigation, radiation will limit the coherence time of superconducting qubits to a few milliseconds, which is insufficient for practical quantum computing."

The research has been published in Nature.

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We Just Found Another Obstacle For Quantum Computers to Overcome - And It's Everywhere - ScienceAlert

The Quantum Computing Market report enlightens its readers about its products, applications, and specifications. The research enlists key companies operating in the market and also highlights the roadmap adopted by the companies to consolidate their position in the market. By extensive usage of SWOT analysis and Porters five force analysis tools, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and combination of key companies are comprehensively deduced and referenced in the report. Every single leading player in this global market is profiled with their related details such as product types, business overview, sales, manufacturing base, applications, and other specifications.

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Quantum Computing Market Is Booming Worldwide | D-Wave Systems, 1QB Information Technologies, QxBranch LLC and more - The Daily Chronicle

Tufts is joining a major U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded center called the Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA), led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The center hopes to create the next generation of quantum computers and apply them to the study of some of the most challenging problems in physics, chemistry, materials science, and more.

The QSA is one of five new DOE Quantum Information Science research centers announced on Aug. 26, and will be funded with $115 million over five years, supporting dozens of scientists at 15 institutions.

Peter Love, an associate professor of physics, will lead Tufts participation in the project. We have long been interested in using quantum computers for calculations in physics and chemistry, said Love.

A large-scale quantum computer would be a very powerful instrument for studying everything from the structure of large molecules to the nature and behavior of subatomic particles, he said. The only difficulty is that the quantum computers we need dont exist yet.

Quantum computers employ a fundamentally different approach to computing than those existing now, using quantum states of atoms, ions, light, quantum dots or superconducting circuits to store information.

The QSA will bring together world-class researchers and facilities to develop quantum systems that could significantly exceed the capability of todays computers. Multidisciplinary teams across all the institutions will work toward advancing qubit technologythe manner and materials in which information is stored in a quantum state, and other components of quantum computers.

Loves research will focus on developing simulation algorithms in areas such as particle and nuclear physics, which will be run by the new quantum computers. It is important to work hard on the algorithms now, so we are ready when the hardware appears, he said. Love is also part of a National Science Foundation-funded effort to develop a quantum computer and applications to run on it.

Quantum computing is an important and growing area of research at Tufts. Tom Vandervelde, an associate professor in electrical and computer engineering, Luke Davis, an assistant professor of chemistry, and Cristian Staii, an associate professor of physics, are exploring new materials capable of storing qubits.

Philip Shushkov, Charles W. Fotis Assistant Professor of Chemistry, has research focused on theoretical modeling of qubit materials, while Misha Kilmer, William Walker Professor of Mathematics, and Xiaozhe Hu, associate professor of mathematics, study quantum-inspired algorithms relevant to their research in linear algebra. Bruce Boghosian, professor of mathematics, also made some fundamental contributions to quantum simulation in the late 1990s.

Mike Silver can be reached at mike.silver@tufts.edu.

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Tufts Joins Major Effort to Build the Next Generation of Quantum Computers - Tufts Now

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The emergence of quantum computing has led industry heavyweights to fast track their research and innovations. This week, Google conducted the largest chemical simulation on a quantum computer to date. The U.S. Department of Energy, on the other hand, launched five new Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers. Will this accelerate quantum computings progress?

Quantum technology is the next big wave in the tech landscape. As opposed to traditional computers where all the information emails, tweets, YouTube videos, and Facebook photos are streams of electrical pulses in binary digits, 1s and 0s; quantum computers rely on quantum bits or qubits to store information. Qubits are subatomic particles, such as electrons or photons which change their state regularly. Therefore, they can be 1s and 0s at the same time. This enables quantum computers to run multiple complex computational tasks simultaneously and faster when compared to digital computers, mainframes, and servers.

Introduced in the 1900s, quantum computing can unlock the complexities across different industries much faster than traditional computers. A quantum computer can decipher complex encryption systems that can easily impact digital banking, cryptocurrencies, and e-commerce sectors, which heavily depend on encrypted data. Quantum computers can expedite the discovery of new medicines, aid in climate change, power AI, transform logistics, and design new materials. In the U.S., technology giants, including IBM, Google, Honeywell, Microsoft, Intel, IonQ, and Rigetti Computing, are leading the race to build quantum computers and gain a foothold in the quantum computing space. Whereas Alibaba, Baidu, Huawei are leading companies in China.

For a long time, the U.S. and its allies, such as Japan and Germany, had been working hard to compete with China to dominate the quantum technology space. In 2018, the U.S. government released the National Strategy Overview for Quantum Information Science to reduce technical skills gaps and accelerate quantum computing research and development.

In 2019, Google claimed quantum supremacy for supercomputers when the companys Sycamore processor performed specific tasks in 200 seconds, which would have taken a supercomputer 10,000 years to complete. In the same year, Intel rolled out Horse Ridge, a cryogenic quantum control chip, to reduce the quantum computing complexities and accelerate quantum practicality.

Tech news: Is Data Portability the Answer To Anti-Competitive Practices?

Whats 2020 Looking Like For Quantum Computing?

In July 2020, IBM announced a research partnership with the Japanese business and academia to advance quantum computing innovations. This alliance will deepen ties between the countries and build an ecosystem to improve quantum skills and advance research and development.

More recently, in June 2020, Honeywell announced the development of the worlds highest-performing quantum computer. AWS, Microsoft, and several other IaaS providers have announced quantum cloud services, an initiative to advance quantum computing adoption. In August 2020, AWS announced the general availability of its Amazon Braket, a quantum cloud service that allows developers to design, develop, test, and run quantum algorithms.

Since last year, auto manufacturers, such as Daimler and Volkswagen have been leveraging quantum computers to identify new methods to improve electric vehicle battery performance. Pharmaceutical companies are also using the technology to develop new medicines and drugs.

Last week, the Google AI Quantum team used their quantum processor, Sycamore, to simulate changes in the configuration of a chemical molecule, diazene. During the process, the computer was able to describe the changes in the positions of hydrogen accurately. The computer also gave an accurate description of the binding energy of hydrogen in bigger chains.

If quantum computers develop the ability to predict chemical processes, it would advance the development of a wide range of new materials with unknown properties. Current quantum computers, unfortunately, lack the augmented scaling required for such a task. Although todays computers are not ready to take on such a challenge yet, computer scientists hope to accomplish this in the near future as tech giants like Google invest in quantum computing-related research.

Tech news: Will Googles Nearby Share Have Anything Transformative to Offer?

It, therefore, came as a relief to many computer scientists when the U.S. Department of Energy announced an investment of $625 million over the next five years for five newly formed Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers in the U.S. The newly formed hubs are an amalgam of research universities, national labs, and tech titans in quantum computing. Each of the research hubs is led by the Energy Departments Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fermi National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; powered by Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Riggeti, and ColdQuanta. This partnership aims to advance quantum computing commercialization.

Chetan Nayak, general manager of Quantum Hardware at Microsoft, says, While quantum computing will someday have a profound impact, todays quantum computing systems are still nascent technologies. To scale these systems, we must overcome a number of scientific challenges. Microsoft has been tackling these challenges head-on through our work towards developing topological qubits, classical information processing devices for quantum control, new quantum algorithms, and simulations.

At the start of this year, Daniel Newman, principal analyst and founding partner at Futurum Research, predicted that 2020 will be a big year for investors and Silicon Valley to invest in quantum computing companies. He said, It will be incredibly impactful over the next decade, and 2020 should be a big year for advancement and investment.

Quantum computing is still in the development phase, and the lack of suppliers and skilled researchers might be one of the influential factors in its establishment. However, if tech giants, and researchers continue to collaborate on a large scale, quantum technology can turbocharge innovation at a large scale.

What are your thoughts on the progress of quantum computing? Comment below or let us know on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook. Wed love to hear from you!

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The Quantum Dream: Are We There Yet? - Toolbox

Commerce Department and Federal Trade Commission-led studies diving deep into Americas pursuit, use and governance of multiple emerging technologiesand resulting in tips for national strategies to advance each and secure supply chainswould be required under a bipartisan bill introduced Friday.

The American Competitiveness on More Productive Emerging Tech Economy, or COMPETE Act, set forth by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Bobby Rush, D-Ill., is a legislative package of several other previously-introduced bills focused on boosting Congress grasp of the tech landscape.

If passed, it would mandate new research into confronting online harms, and advancing eight buzzy areas of on-the-rise emerging technology: artificial intelligence, quantum computing, blockchain, new and advanced materials, unmanned delivery services, 3D printing, the internet of things, and IoT in manufacturing.

Such tech has expanded the horizons of humankind, drastically changing the way we exchange information and interact with the world around us, Rush said in a statement, adding that, as these technologies develop and become more prolific, it is imperative that the U.S. take the lead in appreciating both the benefits and risks associated with [them], and ensure that we remain competitive on the world stage.

Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce upon introduction, the 36-page bill incorporates the Advancing Blockchain Act, initially introduced by Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., the Advancing Quantum Computing Act from Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., and almost 10 other pieces of previously put forward legislation calling for research into contemporary technologies impact on commerce and society. The bill calls for year-long, agency-led investigations into each of the listed burgeoning technological industries and areaswith explicit instructions for the type of information the agencies would need to report back to Congress. The work would entail developing lists of public-private partnerships promoting the various techs adoption, exploring standards and policies implemented by those tapping into each, identifying near- and long-term risks among supply chains, pinpointing tech industry impacts on the U.S. economy and much more.

Studies are studies and from a Congressional standpoint they are generally used to inform oversight and legislative activity. Thats likely the case here, Mike Hettinger, founder of Hettinger Strategy Group and former House Oversight Committee staffer told Nextgov Tuesday. On [its] face, the bill is not going to change any existing policy related to any of the areas on which it is focused. That said, the more we know, the better off we will be.

Agencies involved in producing the reports would also need to craft recommendations for policies and legislation that would advance the expeditious adoption of the said technologies, according to the act.

Hettinger noted that the bill could signal that the participating lawmakers are teeing up potential legislative action.

Thats the thing to watch because for the most part when you have emerging technology you want to be very careful not to over-regulate it in a way that would hinder innovation, he said, noting that what we need more than anything in these areas is continued robust federal investment in related research and development.

You hope that by studying these areas in-depth first, youll avoid any knee-jerk regulation that could harm innovation, he added.

On top of honing in on each specific emerging technology, the bill also includes a section that Hettinger said hes particularly intrigued by, which is the full text of what was originally introduced as the Countering Online Harms Act. In the COMPETE Act, the portion mandates a study to consider whether and how artificial intelligence may be used to identify, remove, or take any other appropriate action necessary to address online harms, like manipulated content such as deepfakes used to mislead people, disinformation campaigns, fraudulent content intended to scamand beyond.

The issue of deceptive content and deepfakes is front and center today as the 2020 election moves into full swing, Hettinger said. Being able to identify what content is authentic and what has been manipulated is increasingly critical for protecting the integrity of our electoral process.

The bills included in the legislative bundle were put forth prior by several other lawmakersall of whom contributed to what Hettinger suggested marks a unique approach. He pointed out that outside of the Smart IoT Act, most pieces of legislation included in COMPETE were formerly introduced on the same date this summerMay 19and their language is strikingly similar, at times nearly identical.

This suggests to me that this was a coordinated approach from the outset, and part of an innovation agenda, Hettinger said. I dont know the behind the scenes posturing thats going on, but we do expect to see a lot of legislative activity between now and the end of the year so I assume the plan is to try and pass this combined package in the House before Congress adjourns for the year.

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Bipartisan Bill Calls for Government-Led Studies Into Emerging Tech Impacts - Nextgov

Students of IISER Pune next to the strontium-based optical atomic clocks setup. Photo: IISER Pune.

Pune/Bengaluru: Two Pune-based premier research institutes, the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), have joined hands to build Indias first two optical atomic clocks.

The institutes will build one clock each, with help from the Government of India. If the project is successful, India will join a small global club of countries with the ability to build these ultra-precise timekeeping devices.

According to the scientists involved, the clocks will only skip one second in more than 13.8 billion years, which is the approximate age of our universe.

Since the middle of the 20th century till now, there have been tremendous efforts in the field of atomic clocks, making time the most accurately measured physical quantity, the authors of a paper published in 2014 wrote.

Optical atomic clocks themselves have a few well-known applications. Foremost of course is accurate timekeeping which in turn has multiple applications of its own, according to Subhadeep De, an associate professor and expert in optical physics at IUCAA and one of the members of the project.

For example, GPS satellites use radar signals to determine the position of an object on the ground. However, there is a time lag both due to time taken for the signals to move between the ground and the satellites and because the satellites are in motion relative to the object while they move through Earths gravitational field, incurring really tiny but significant time delays arising from the theories of relativity.

The worlds prevailing frequency standard for measuring time is derived from caesium atomic clocks. Here, caesium atoms are imparted energy by different means in different designs and forced to jump from one energy level to a slightly higher one, called the atoms hyperfine ground states. Shortly after, the atom drops back to its previous state by emitting microwave radiation at 9,192,631,770 Hz.

Hz here is hertz, the SI unit of frequency, defined as per second. So when a detector measures 9,192,631,770 waves from crest to trough of this microwave emission, coming from the caesium atoms, one second will have passed.

According to the Mechatronics Handbook (2002), all timekeeping machines have three parts: an energy source, a resonator and a counter. In a household wall clock, the energy source is a AA or AAA battery; the resonator, in this case the clocks gears, is the system that moves in a periodic manner; and the counter is the display. The energy and resonator are together called an oscillator.

In atomic clocks, the oscillator is, say, a laser imparting energy to a caesium atom ticking between the two hyperfine ground states. The radiation the atom releases is the resonator. The detector is the counter.

The clocks being built by IUCAA and IISER have the same underlying principle but use more advanced technologies. Indeed, optical atomic clocks are considered to be the next step in the evolution of atomic clocks and are likely to replace caesium atomic clocks as the worlds time standard in future. A glimpse of the underlying engineering shows us why.

First, confining the atoms or ions is very difficult. To keep the clock precise, its operators need to ensure the atoms dont combine to form molecules, bump into each other and/or dont react with the containers walls. So instead of confining them in material containers, the IUCAA and IISER teams are using optical and electromagnetic traps.

Specifically, neutral atoms are confined in an optically created storage basket known as an optical lattice, which is created by interfering two counter-propagating laser beams, Umakant Rapol, an associate professor at IISER, said. The ions are confined by oscillating electric fields.

Second, once the particles have been confined, they will be laser-cooled to nearly absolute zero (the coldest temperature possible, 0 K or -273.15 C). In their simplest form, laser-cooling techniques force atoms to lose their kinetic energy and come very nearly to a still. Since the temperature of a macroscopic body is nothing but the collective kinetic energy of its atoms, a container of nearly-still atoms is bound to feel very cold. And once more of the atoms kinetic energy has been removed, their quantum physical effects become more noticeable, allowing the clock to be more precise.

The choice of atoms to use in the clock is dictated by whether they can be cooled to a few microkelvin above absolute zero using laser-cooling, and if their switching between the two energy states is immune to stray magnetic fields, electric fields, the temperature of the background, etc., Rapol said.

Ytterbium and strontium atoms check both these boxes. IUCAA will be building a ytterbium-ion clock. In this clock, a single ytterbium ion will be used to produce the resonating radiation. Using multiple ions gives rise to an effect called a Coulomb shift, which interferes with the clock design. IISER will be building a strontium-atom clock.

When a caesium atom swings between the two hyperfine ground states, it emits a specific amount of energy as microwave radiation. When the ytterbium and strontium atoms swing between two of their energy states, they emit energy as optical radiation. Both these elements have highly stable optical emissions at wavelengths of 467 nm and 698.4 nm corresponding to 642,121,496,772,645 Hz and 429,228,066,418,009 Hz for ytterbium-ion and strontium atom, respectively.

These high frequencies two orders of magnitude higher than the microwave radiation in caesium clocks is the source of the clocks ability to miss less than one second in 13.8 billion years.

(The makers of an optical strontium clock reported in 2014 that their device wouldnt miss one second in 15 billion years!)

Also read: Experimenting with Cold, Magnetic Materials in Indore

However, taking advantage of this stable emission means accurately detecting the high-frequency optical radiation. That is, if researchers need to build optical atomic clocks, they also need to be able to build and operate state-of-the-art frequency measurement systems. These devices in the form of frequency combs constitute the third feature of the IUCAA and IISER clocks.

A frequency comb is an advanced laser whose output radiation lies in multiple, evenly-spaced frequencies. This output can be used to convert high-frequency optical signals into more easily countable lower-frequency microwave signals like in the diagram shown below (source).

The principal challenge before India is to build all these devices from scratch. Rapol said the teams plan to develop most of the required technologies in Pune. They require expertise in the fields of optics, instrumentation, electronics, ultra-high vacuums, and mechanical and software engineering, among others.

National collaborations such as [us] working together with our next-door neighbour IISER will be beneficial, De said. Rapol mirrored this opinion: We are going to share expertise with IUCAA and are already working [together] to create an ion trap.

Rapol also said one clock is half-ready: We have laser-cooled the strontium atoms and are ready to load these atoms into one-dimensional chains, to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, and will have the optical clock soon, he said. They are also waiting to fit in the frequency comb.

He estimated that once the funds and equipment have been procured, it should take two years or less to build the clock at IISER. The IUCAA clock is expected to be ready in four or five years.

Once both clocks are operational, they will be linked together.

Grander applications

There are multiple open problems in physics at the moment. Four of the more prominent ones include the search for new physics, the reconciliation of quantum mechanics and relativity, an explanation for what happened to the universes antimatter, and the nature of dark matter.

De noted that various experiments designed to help answer these questions and others besides require researchers to be able to measure time in different contexts with increasingly higher precision and accuracy.

Rapol also expressed excitement about measuring changes in the values of fundamental constants. Constants are called so because their values dont change but the values of some constants could be changing too slightly for existing clocks to notice.

For example, the fine-structure constant is a number that determines the strength with which a charged particle, like an electron or a ytterbium ion, couples with an electromagnetic field. If this number increases or decreases with time, there could be implications for the whole universe everywhere charged particles interact with each other.

According to De, the ytterbium ion is more sensitive to the fine structure constant than strontium atoms. So if the constants value changes with time, the ytterbium clocks transition frequency will vary at a much faster rate relative to that of the strontium clock. This [difference] will eventually allow us to measure time variation of the fundamental constant, if there is any at all.

For a different example, physicists who study particles called neutrinos sometimes need to beam these particles from a source to a detector hundreds of kilometres away, through the atmosphere (these particles are entirely harmless). In 2011, physicists in Italy found that some neutrinos that had been beamed from a facility near Geneva and detected at their instrument, called OPERA, had travelled faster than light. The claim became a major source of controversy because faster-than-light travel violates the special theory of relativity.

The problem was found a few months later: the OPERA master clock had glitched, and measured the neutrinos time of arrival wrong by just 75 nanoseconds.

Other applications of atomic clocks include GPS systems, gravity-aided navigation, astronomy and geology.

Also read: Listen | Tick-tock, Tick-tock, Say Hello To the Doomsday Clock

More immediate concerns

The clocks also bring deeper opportunities for Indias scientists and engineers.

In 2017, the Department of Science and Technology had mooted its Quantum-Enabled Science & Technology programme. Its aim, the principal scientific adviser had told The Print in 2019, was to ramp up research and development activities related to quantum computing. In the 2020 Union budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the Centre would invest Rs 8,000 crore in the next five years under a new national mission for quantum technologies.

So as such, there are both interest and funds available at the moment to develop concepts and technologies to address a variety of applications. At present, we are using conventional technologies in our daily life for commercial and navigational purposes, De said. The world is moving towards the quantum computers, quantum communication systems and quantum internet.

In this regard, we can import the clock, but [operating it] will need highly skilled professionals. On the other hand, being able to build optical atomic clocks could help us become self-sustained and develop skilled human resources in the process, De noted.

And of course, theres the pride. A few years ago, a team at the National Physical Laboratory of India, New Delhi, led by Poonam Arora built Indias first atomic clock with caesium atoms (the authors of the 2014 paper quoted earlier). This clock is Indias current frequency standard the machine that defines how time is measured in the country. The researchers acknowledge in their paper that they expect optical frequency standards will replace the [caesium fountain clock] as primary frequency standards in the next few years.

De, Rapol and their colleagues and students at IUCAA and IISER are now attempting to bring India to this next threshold.

Japan is the only country in the Asia-Pacific to have built [optical atomic clocks], and China is working hard among other nations like Australia, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Russia, according to De.

Himanshu N. is a freelance journalist. Vasudevan Mukunth is editor, The Wire Science.

Read more:

Two Pune Research Institutes Are Building India's First Optical Atomic Clocks - The Wire Science

Bitcoin BTC, Ethereum ETH, and the rest of the crypto-market is off to a good start. But the major concern is, what might prevent Bitcoin and Ethereum from surging. Well, the Co-Founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin holds the answer to that question.

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Recently, Buterin was on What Bitcoin Did podcast, where he weighed in some threats to Bitcoin and the rest of the market, may encounter soon. Buterin seemed quite curious while speaking about quantum computing.

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Buterin said:

So the thing that I tend to worry about I mean one is that theres always this kind of black swan risk of technical failure. What if the NSA comes out with a quantum computer out of the blue and just steals a bunch of coins before you can do anything about it?

[Theres also] political failure. So what if governments banned Bitcoin, commandeered the mining pools, and use that to do what I call a 51% spawn camping attack attacking the chain over and over again until it becomes non-viable? And meanwhile, the prices are low because the things banned and theres a crisis of confidence?

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Especially for Bitcoin, he was concerned about the fact that whether Bitcoin will keep attracting investors interest in the long run.

Buterin added:

Bitcoin doesnt have what I call functionality escape velocity. So basically, sufficient functionality to serve as a trustless base layer for a lot of different applications. As a result of this, theres a possibility that over time people will find Bitcoin less and less interesting and other platforms more interesting.

He further addressed the notions about BTC/USD and ETH/USD becoming the norm and being used as the new form of money. Although Bitcoin and Ethereum have outplayed the bashing community and proved its importance, it depends on ones definition of what makes a currency.

Buterin further added:

The word money does combine a lot of different concepts. For example, people talk about the unit of account, a medium of exchange, store of value. For the unit of account, ETH is not that and BTC is not that either. For the medium of exchange, Bitcoin is used like that, and ETH is used as that sometimes ETH has a store of value. That is something that people use ETH for.

Read this article:

Vitalik Buterin highlights major threats to Bitcoin BTC and Ethereum ETH - Digital Market News