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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

Passive Faraday-mirror attack in a practical two-way quantum-key-distribution system

The Faraday mirror (FM) plays a very important role in maintaining the stability of two-way plug-and-play quantum key distribution (QKD) systems. However, the practical FM is imperfect, which will not only introduce an additional quantum bit error rate (QBER) but also leave a loophole for Eve to spy the secret key. In this paper we propose a passive Faraday mirror attack in two-way QKD system based on the imperfection of FM. Our analysis shows that if the FM is imperfect, the dimension of Hilbert space spanned by the four states sent by Alice is three instead of two. Thus Eve can distinguish these states with a set of Positive Operator Valued Measure (POVM) operators belonging to three-dimension space, which will reduce the QBER induced by her attack. Furthermore, a relationship between the degree of the imperfection of FM and the transmittance of the practical QKD system is obtained. The results show that the probability that Eve loads her attack successfully depends on the degree of the imperfection of FM rapidly, but the QBER induced by Eve's attack changes slightly with the degree of the FM imperfection.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Efficient heralding of photonic qubits with applications to device-independent quantum key distribution

We present an efficient way of heralding photonic qubit signals using linear optics devices. First, we show that one can obtain asymptotically perfect heralding and unit success probability with growing resources. Second, we show that even using finite resources, we can improve qualitatively and quantitatively over earlier heralding results. In the latter scenario, we can obtain perfect heralded photonic qubits while maintaining a finite success probability. We demonstrate the advantage of our heralding scheme by predicting key rates for device-independent quantum key distribution, taking imperfections of sources and detectors into account.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Simultaneous classical communication and quantum key distribution using continuous variables

Currently, classical optical communication systems employing strong laser pulses and quantum key distribution (QKD) systems working at single-photon levels are very different communication modalities. Dedicated devices are commonly required to implement QKD. In this paper, we propose a scheme which allows classical communication and QKD to be implemented simultaneously using the same communication infrastructure. More specially, we propose a coherent communication scheme where both the bits for classical communication and the Gaussian distributed random numbers for QKD are encoded on the same weak coherent pulse and decoded by the same coherent receiver. Simulation results based on practical system parameters show that both deterministic classical communication with a bit error rate of 10 –9 and secure key distribution could be achieved over tens of kilometers of single-mode fibers. It is conceivable that in the future coherent optical communication network, QKD will be operated in the background of classical communication at a minimal cost.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2018

Passive state preparation in the Gaussian-modulated coherent-states quantum key distribution

In the Gaussian-modulated coherent-states (GMCS) quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol, Alice prepares quantum states actively: For each transmission, Alice generates a pair of Gaussian-distributed random numbers, encodes them on a weak coherent pulse using optical amplitude and phase modulators, and then transmits the Gaussian-modulated weak coherent pulse to Bob. Here we propose a passive state preparation scheme using a thermal source. In our scheme, Alice splits the output of a thermal source into two spatial modes using a beam splitter. She measures one mode locally using conjugate optical homodyne detectors, and transmits the other mode to Bob after applying appropriate optical attenuation. Under normal conditions, Alice's measurement results are correlated to Bob's, and they can work out a secure key, as in the active state preparation scheme. Given the initial thermal state generated by the source is strong enough, this scheme can tolerate high detector noise at Alice's side. Furthermore, the output of the source does not need to be single mode, since an optical homodyne detector can selectively measure a single mode determined by the local oscillator. Preliminary experimental results suggest that the proposed scheme could be implemented using an off-the-shelf amplified spontaneous emission source.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

Symmetric Blind Information Reconciliation for Quantum Key Distribution

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a quantum-proof key-exchange scheme which is fast approaching the communication industry. An essential component in QKD is the information reconciliation step, which is used for correcting the quantum-channel noise errors. The recently suggested blind-reconciliation technique, based on low-density parity-check codes, offers remarkable prospectives for efficient information reconciliation without an a priori quantum bit error rate estimation. We suggest an improvement of the blind-information-reconciliation protocol promoting a significant increase in the efficiency of the procedure and reducing its interactivity. Finally, the proposed technique is based on introducing symmetry in operations of parties, and the consideration of results of unsuccessful belief-propagation decodings.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Security proof of practical quantum key distribution with detection-efficiency mismatch

Quantum key distribution (QKD) protocols with threshold detectors are driving high-performance QKD demonstrations. The corresponding security proofs usually assume that all physical detectors have the same detection efficiency. However, the efficiencies of the detectors used in practice might show a mismatch depending on the manufacturing and setup of these detectors. A mismatch can also be induced as the different spatial-temporal modes of an incoming signal might couple differently to a detector. Here we develop a method that allows to provide security proofs without the usual assumption. Our method can take the detection-efficiency mismatch into account without having to restrict the attack strategy of the adversary. Especially, we do not rely on any photon-number cutoff of incoming signals such that our security proof is directly applicable to practical situations. We illustrate our method for a receiver that is designed for polarization encoding and is sensitive to a number of spatial-temporal modes. In our detector model, the absence of quantum interference between any pair of spatial-temporal modes is assumed. For a QKD protocol with this detector model, we can perform a security proof with characterized efficiency mismatch and without photon-number cutoff assumption. Our method also shows that in the absence of efficiency mismatch in our detector model, the key rate increases if the loss due to detection inefficiency is assumed to be outside of the adversary's control, as compared to the view where for a security proof this loss is attributed to the action of the adversary.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Structure of Rhodococcus equi virulence-associated protein B (VapB) reveals an eight-stranded antiparallel β-barrel consisting of two Greek-key motifs

The structure of VapB, a member of the Vap protein family that is involved in virulence of the bacterial pathogen R. equi, was determined by SAD phasing and reveals an eight-stranded antiparallel β-barrel similar to avidin, suggestive of a binding function. Made up of two Greek-key motifs, the topology of VapB is unusual or even unique. Members of the virulence-associated protein (Vap) family from the pathogen Rhodococcus equi regulate virulence in an unknown manner. They do not share recognizable sequence homology with any protein of known structure. VapB and VapA are normally associated with isolates from pigs and horses, respectively. To contribute to a molecular understanding of Vap function, the crystal structure of a protease-resistant VapB fragment was determined at 1.4 Å resolution. The structure was solved by SAD phasing employing the anomalous signal of one endogenous S atom and two bound Co ions with low occupancy. VapB is an eight-stranded antiparallel β-barrel with a single helix. Structural similarity to avidins suggests a potential binding function. Unlike other eight- or ten-stranded β-barrels found in avidins, bacterial outer membrane proteins, fatty-acid-binding proteins and lysozyme inhibitors, Vaps do not have a next-neighbour arrangement but consist of two Greek-key motifs with strand order 41238567, suggesting an unusual or even unique topology.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2011

The key-role of instrumentation for the new generation of research reactors

Experimental reactors have been indispensable since the beginning of the use of nuclear energy to support many important fields of industry and research: safety, lifetime management and operation optimisation of nuclear power plants, development of new types of reactors with improved resources and fuel cycle management, medical applications, material development for fusion... Over the last decade, modifications of the operational needs and the ageing of the nuclear facilities have led to several closures and time is coming for new key European Experimental Reactors (EER) within a European and International Framework. Projects like MYRRHA and JHR are underway to define and implement a new consistent EER policy: - Meeting industry and public needs, keeping a high level of scientific expertise; - With a limited number of EER, specified within a rational compromise between specialisation, complementarities and back-up capacities; - To be put into effective operation in this or the next decade. These new projects will give to the scientific community high performances allowing innovative fields of R and D. A new generation of instrumentation to address new phenomena and that allows better on-line investigation of some key physical parameters is necessary to achieve these challenges. One initiative to progress in this direction is the Joint Instrumentation Laboratory between CEA and SCK.CEN which has already given significant results and patents. Major scientific challenges to achieve in the field of instrumentation for this new generation of European Research Reactors have to be investigated and are described in this paper as well as a short description of the JHR and MYRRHA reactors that will be serving as flexible irradiation facilities for testing them. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Controlled quantum key distribution with three-photon polarization-entangled states via the collective noise channel

Using three-photon polarization-entangled GHZ states or W states, we propose controlled quantum key distribution protocols for circumventing two main types of collective noise, collective dephasing noise, or collective rotation noise. Irrespective of the number of controllers, a three-photon state can generate a one-bit secret key. The storage technique of quantum states is dispensable for the controller and the receiver, and it therefore allows performing the process in a more convenient mode. If the photon cost in a security check is disregarded, then the efficiency theoretically approaches unity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Application of Grover’s Quantum Algorithm for SDES Key Searching

The problem of finding the key of Simplified-DES (SDES)—a model of a block cipher DES—by Grover’s quantum algorithm is considered. Examples of application of Grover’s algorithm are presented. A quantum system with the minimum number of qubits is constructed that implements SDES key searching by a single pair of plaintext and ciphertext and requires only 19 qubits. This quantum circuit is simulated by using a Quipper quantum simulator.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Are There Enough Decoy States to Ensure Key Secrecy in Quantum Cryptography?

The decoy state method has been proposed to detect a photon number splitting (PNS) attack. Today, the decoy state method is considered to be an almost universal method for proving the secrecy of quantum cryptography protocols and calculating the length of a secret key. In this paper, it is shown that there exist attacks, for example, a beam splitting (BS) attack, to which the decoy state method turns out to be insensitive. The decoy state method is oriented to the detection of changes in the photocount statistics of information states and decoy states under a PNS attack. Under a BS attack, the photocount statistics is not changed. As a result, the decoy state method significantly overestimates the length of the key. Thus, the decoy state method is not a universal method that allows the detection of various attacks. Apparently, due to a large number of publications on the decoy state method, a widespread opinion has been formed that this method is universal. This fact has led to attempts to adopt this method as an international standard in quantum cryptography, which is clearly premature.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Quantum Key Distribution with Nonbinary Phase–Time Encoding That Admits an Exact Proof of Secrecy

A quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol with nonbinary encoding is proposed that admits an exact proof of secrecy. The protocol provides higher rate of key generation compared with the BB84 protocol and, moreover, has a simple experimental implementation without active elements on the receiver side, that does not require polarization matching at the output of the communication line.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Review—Understanding and Mitigating Some of the Key Factors that Limit Non-Aqueous Lithium-Air Battery Performance

In this article, we have reviewed our work on understanding and mitigating some of the key factors that limit non-aqueous Li-air battery performance. Advances in Li-air battery technology require fundamental understanding of the discharge and charge processes. We first summarize an investigation of Li-air batteries based on a well-defined cathode surfaces having size-selected silver clusters. This work provided key insight into the nucleation and growth mechanism of the discharge product and its relationship to lowering charge potentials. We then describe the development of new cathode materials including ones based on Pd and Mo2C nanoparticles that give very low charge potentials. This work has shown that it is possible to achieve very good round-trip efficiencies as well as up to 100 cycles in a Li-air cell. Finally, we discuss investigations of likely sources of electrolyte decomposition at the cathode and anode, which need to be resolved in order to achieve the long cycle life that is necessary to enable Li-air batteries.

charge overpotential↗
DOE OSTI2014

Rare key functional domain missense substitutions in MRE11A, RAD50 , and NBN contribute to breast cancer susceptibility: results from a Breast Cancer Family Registry case-control mutation-screening study

The MRE11A-RAD50-Nibrin (MRN) complex plays several critical roles related to repair of DNA double-strand breaks. Inherited mutations in the three components predispose to genetic instability disorders and the MRN genes have been implicated in breast cancer susceptibility, but the underlying data are not entirely convincing. Here, we address two related questions: (1) are some rare MRN variants intermediate-risk breast cancer susceptibility alleles, and if so (2) do the MRN genes follow a BRCA1/BRCA2 pattern wherein most susceptibility alleles are protein-truncating variants, or do they follow an ATM/CHEK2 pattern wherein half or more of the susceptibility alleles are missense substitutions? Using high-resolution melt curve analysis followed by Sanger sequencing, we mutation screened the coding exons and proximal splice junction regions of the MRN genes in 1,313 early-onset breast cancer cases and 1,123 population controls. Rare variants in the three genes were pooled using bioinformatics methods similar to those previously applied to ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, and CHEK2, and then assessed by logistic regression. Results: Re-analysis of our ATM, BRCA1, and BRCA2 mutation screening data revealed that these genes do not harbor pathogenic alleles (other than modest-risk SNPs) with minor allele frequencies >0.1% in Caucasian Americans, African Americans, or East Asians. Limiting our MRN analyses to variants with allele frequencies of <0.1% and combining protein-truncating variants, likely spliceogenic variants, and key functional domain rare missense substitutions, we found significant evidence that the MRN genes are indeed intermediate-risk breast cancer susceptibility genes (odds ratio (OR) = 2.88, P = 0.0090). Key domain missense substitutions were more frequent than the truncating variants (24 versus 12 observations) and conferred a slightly higher OR (3.07 versus 2.61) with a lower P value (0.029 versus 0.14). These data establish that MRE11A, RAD50, and NBN are intermediate-risk breast cancer susceptibility genes. Like ATM and CHEK2, their spectrum of pathogenic variants includes a relatively high proportion of missense substitutions. However, the data neither establish whether variants in each of the three genes are best evaluated under the same analysis model nor achieve clinically actionable classification of individual variants observed in this study.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Metabolic characteristics of dominant microbes and key rare species from an acidic hot spring in Taiwan revealed by metagenomics

Microbial diversity and community structures in acidic hot springs have been characterized by 16S rRNA gene-based diversity surveys. However, our understanding regarding the interactions among microbes, or between microbes and environmental factors, remains limited. In the present study, a metagenomic approach, followed by bioinformatics analyses, were used to predict interactions within the microbial ecosystem in Shi-Huang-Ping (SHP), an acidic hot spring in northern Taiwan. Characterizing environmental parameters and potential metabolic pathways highlighted the importance of carbon assimilatory pathways. Four distinct carbon assimilatory pathways were identified in five dominant genera of bacteria. Of those dominant carbon fixers, Hydrogenobaculum bacteria outcompeted other carbon assimilators and dominated the SHP, presumably due to their ability to metabolize hydrogen and to withstand an anaerobic environment with fluctuating temperatures. Furthermore, most dominant microbes were capable of metabolizing inorganic sulfur-related compounds (abundant in SHP). However, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was the only species among key rare microbes with the capability to fix nitrogen, suggesting a key role in nitrogen cycling. In addition to potential metabolic interactions, based on the 16S rRNAs gene sequence of Nanoarchaeum -related and its potential host Ignicoccus -related archaea, as well as sequences of viruses and CRISPR arrays, we inferred that there were complex microbe-microbe interactions. In conclusion, our study provided evidence that there were numerous microbe-microbe and microbe-environment interactions within the microbial community in an acidic hot spring. We proposed that Hydrogenobaculum bacteria were the dominant microbial genus, as they were able to metabolize hydrogen, assimilate carbon and live in an anaerobic environment with fluctuating temperatures.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Analysis of key safety metrics of thorium utilization in LWRs

Here, thorium has great potential to stretch nuclear fuel reserves because of its natural abundance and because it is possible to breed the 232 Th isotope into a fissile fuel ( 233 U). Various scenarios exist for utilization of thorium in the nuclear fuel cycle, including use in different nuclear reactor types (e.g., light water, high-temperature gas-cooled, fast spectrum sodium, and molten salt reactors), along with use in advanced accelerator-driven systems and even in fission-fusion hybrid systems. The most likely near-term application of thorium in the United States is in currently operating light water reactors (LWRs). This use is primarily based on concepts that mix thorium with uranium (UO 2 + ThO 2 ) or that add fertile thorium (ThO 2 ) fuel pins to typical LWR fuel assemblies. Utilization of mixed fuel assemblies (PuO 2 + ThO 2 ) is also possible. The addition of thorium to currently operating LWRs would result in a number of different phenomenological impacts to the nuclear fuel. Thorium and its irradiation products have different nuclear characteristics from those of uranium and its irradiation products. ThO 2 , alone or mixed with UO 2 fuel, leads to different chemical and physical properties of the fuel. These key reactor safety–related issues have been studied at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and documented in “Safety and Regulatory Issues of the Thorium Fuel Cycle” (NUREG/CR-7176, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2014). Various reactor analyses were performed using the SCALE code system for comparison of key performance parameters of both ThO 2 + UO 2 and ThO 2 + PuO 2 against those of UO 2 and typical UO 2 + PuO 2 mixed oxide fuels, including reactivity coefficients and power sharing between surrounding UO 2 assemblies and the assembly of interest. The decay heat and radiological source terms for spent fuel after its discharge from the reactor are also presented. Based on this evaluation, potential impacts on safety requirements and identification of knowledge gaps that require additional analysis or research to develop a technical basis for the licensing of thorium fuel are identified.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗