New low-cost challenger to quantum computer: Ising machine

Amazing stuff! Not easy to understand though for non experts!

"Spintronics explores magnetic phenomena in nano-thin layers of magnetic materials that are exposed to magnetic fields, electric currents and voltages. These external stimuli can also create spin waves, ripples in a material's magnetisation that travel with a specific phase and energy. 

The researchers can generate and control the spin waves, enabling a phase controlled mutual synchronization between two so-called spin Hall nano-oscillators. By controlling the phase of these waves, the research team was able to generate binary phases across the network. For the first time, they showed that spin waves can mediate both in phase and out of phase between the oscillators. The phenomenon can be tuned by adjusting either the magnetic field, the electric current, the applied gate voltage or the distance between the oscillators.

These advances pave the way for the next generation of Ising machines, an alternative to quantum computers that require much less energy and can operate at room temperature.  ...

Ising machine

An Ising machine is a new type of computational system that mimics how magnetic spins in a physical material organise themselves to reach a stable state. It is mainly used to solve complex optimisation problems in an efficient way. Rather than calculating step-by-step as in conventional computers, the system's many small ‘spins’ work together to quickly find the best solution. The Ising machine is programmed by the strength of the connections between the different spins. If the coupling is positive, the spins will point in the same direction (in phase) and if it is negative, they will point in the opposite direction (out of phase). The solution to the problem is then read out as the final direction of all the different spins after they have been optimally aligned."

From the abstract:

"Spin–orbit torque can drive auto-oscillations of propagating spin-wave modes in nano-constriction spin Hall nano-oscillators. These modes facilitate both long-range coupling and the possibility of controlling their phase, which is a crucial aspect for device application. Here, we demonstrate variable-phase coupling between two nano-constriction spin Hall nano-oscillators and their mutual synchronization driven by propagating spin waves.

Using electrical measurements and phase-resolved micro-focused Brillouin light scattering microscopy, we show that the phase of the mutual synchronization can be tuned by modulating the drive current or the applied field. Our micromagnetic simulations explore the phase tunability using voltage gating. Our results advance the capabilities of mutually synchronized spin Hall nano-oscillators and open the possibilities for applications in spin-wave logic-based devices."

New low-cost challenger to quantum computer: Ising machine | ScienceDaily

Breakthrough in the development of a new low-cost computer (original news release) "A low-energy challenger to the quantum computer that also works at room temperature may be the result of research at the University of Gothenburg. The researchers have shown that information can be transmitted using magnetic wave motion in complex networks."

Spin-wave-mediated mutual synchronization and phase tuning in spin Hall nano-oscillators (open access)

Fig. 1: Device fabrication and electrical observation.

Are We Losing the Ability to Write by Hand?

Certainly, like we are not using stone tablets anymore! What a rhetorical question!

 

I feel, I lost my ability to hand write several years ago! 😊 It has become almost painful to write with the hand.

Signature Moves: Are We Losing the Ability to Write by Hand? | American Enterprise Institute - AEI

AI-powered ‘sonar’ on smartglasses tracks gaze and facial expressions

Amazing stuff! From smartphone, to smart watches, to smart eyeglasses ...

When can my thoughts and gaze operate my laptop! I would be wasting much less time clicking, taking screen shots, changing menus etc.!

"... The technology is small enough to fit on commercial smartglasses or virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) headsets, yet consumes significantly less power than similar tools using cameras.  ..."

From the abstract:

"In this paper, we present GazeTrak, the first acoustic-based eye tracking system on glasses. Our system only needs one speaker and four microphones attached to each side of the glasses. These acoustic sensors capture the formations of the eyeballs and the surrounding areas by emitting encoded inaudible sound towards eyeballs and receiving the reflected signals. These reflected signals are further processed to calculate the echo profiles, which are fed to a customized deep learning pipeline to continuously infer the gaze position. In a user study with 20 participants, GazeTrak achieves an accuracy of 3.6° within the same remounting session and 4.9° across different sessions with a refreshing rate of 83.3 Hz and a power signature of 287.9 mW. Furthermore, we report the performance of our gaze tracking system fully implemented on an MCU with a low-power CNN accelerator (MAX78002). In this configuration, the system runs at up to 83.3 Hz and has a total power signature of 95.4 mW with a 30 Hz FPS."

AI-powered ‘sonar’ on smartglasses tracks gaze and facial expressions  | Cornell Chronicle

GazeTrak: Exploring Acoustic-based Eye Tracking on a Glass Frame (open access)

Imperfect Clocks Limit Quantum Computers

Just or mostly hype or a serious conundrum? Pushing fundamental limits! Another challenge for human ingenuity!

It reminds me of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

"The quantum computers that IBM, Google, Amazon, and others are developing face daunting challenges on the road to practical applications. Now it turns out that they may face a fundamental limit to large-scale performance—the imperfect nature of all clocks. ...

Prior work found that timing errors could disrupt individual quantum gates. In the new study, the scientists explored how imperfect timekeeping might impact quantum algorithms made up of a series of quantum gates. ...

A key factor in quantum-computing performance is coherence time, which is the amount of time it takes for the quantum effects that quantum computers depend on to vanish due to disruptions from the outside world ... Currently, quantum computers possess limited coherence time in which to execute quantum gates. ..."

From the abstract:

"In order to unitarily evolve a quantum system, an agent requires knowledge of time, a parameter that no physical clock can ever perfectly characterize. In this Letter, we study how limitations on acquiring knowledge of time impact controlled quantum operations in different paradigms. We show that the quality of timekeeping an agent has access to limits the circuit complexity they are able to achieve within circuit-based quantum computation. We do this by deriving an upper bound on the average gate fidelity achievable under imperfect timekeeping for a general class of random circuits. Another area where quantum control is relevant is quantum thermodynamics. In that context, we show that cooling a qubit can be achieved using a timer of arbitrary quality for control: timekeeping error only impacts the rate of cooling and not the achievable temperature. Our analysis combines techniques from the study of autonomous quantum clocks and the theory of quantum channels to understand the effect of imperfect timekeeping on controlled quantum dynamics."

Imperfect Clocks Limit Quantum Computers - IEEE Spectrum Timing issues could produce critical problems as quantum computers get bigger

Impact of Imperfect Timekeeping on Quantum Control (no public access)

The Impact of Imperfect Timekeeping on Quantum Control (open access)

China’s YMTC makes world’s most advanced memory chip in ‘surprise technology leap’

Competition is good. More competition is better! Or was ist industrial espionage?

"Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC), China’s leading memory chip producer, has manufactured the “world’s most advanced” 3D NAND memory chip known to be in a consumer device in a “surprise technology leap”, according to a report by TechInsights. ..."

"TechInsights has discovered the world's most advanced 3D NAND memory chip in a consumer device, and in a surprise technology leap, it comes from YMTC – China’s top 3D NAND manufacturer. 3D NAND memory is an essential component for high-performance computing (HPC) such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning. 3D NAND memory represents the bleeding edge of memory chip design, and is critical for high-performance, high-bandwidth computing such as AI. This is the first quad-level cell (QLC) 3D NAND die with more than two hundred active word lines that TechInsights has seen. ..."

China’s YMTC makes world’s most advanced memory chip in ‘surprise technology leap’: TechInsights report | South China Morning Post YMTC advance follows on from TechInsights analysis of Kirin 9000S 5G chip found in Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro smartphone released in August

YMTC memory chip, found in a solid-state drive, shows firm has continued to develop advanced technology despite being hampered by sanctions

China Does It Again A NAND Memory Market First

IBM: The future of computer chips is being made in Albany, NY

If you have not yet heard of Silicon Albany, you are probably not alone! 😊 But old Big Blue is good for a surprise!

Disentangling the Facts From the Hype of Quantum Computing

Recommendable! How imminent is practical and the commercialization of quantum computing really?

"... Over the past five years, there has been undeniable hype around quantum computing—hype around approaches, timelines, applications, and more. As far back as 2017, vendors were claiming the commercialization of the technology was just a couple of years away. ...
More recently, companies have shifted their timelines from a few years to a decade, but they continue to release road maps showing commercially viable systems as early as 2029. ...
According to McKinsey & Company, “fault tolerant quantum computing is expected between 2025 and 2030 based on announced hardware roadmaps for gate-based quantum computing players.” I believe this is not entirely realistic, as we still have a long journey to achieve quantum practicality—the point at which quantum computers can do something unique to change our lives. ...
In my opinion, quantum practicality is likely still 10 to 15 years away. However, progress toward that goal is not just steady; it’s accelerating. ..."

Disentangling the Facts From the Hype of Quantum Computing - IEEE Spectrum

Silk hard drive stores optical data

Amazing stuff!

Silk hard drive stores optical data – Physics World Researchers in the US and China have made the first silk hard drive using a technique called tip-enhanced near-field infrared nanolithography (TNINL). The device, which can store digital data with a density of 64 GB per square inch, is robust in the face of harsh conditions such as heat, moisture, gamma radiation or high magnetic fields. While a silk-based hard drive is unlikely to match the speed and storage capacity of state-of-the-art solid-state drives at the same cost, its unique set of features makes it promising for electronics that could be implanted in the body.