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At least 361 records · Page 20

CRADA Number NFE-20-08292 with Quantum Lock Technologies LLC (CRADA Final Report)

At Quantum Lock Technologies, our mission is to use future-proof hardware and software to bridge the gap between physical access control and cyber security. Physical security includes access to doors, lockboxes/containers, and machinery/robots. Connecting physical access control to the cloud allows for remote detection, fast ledger updates, and mobile or remote access. However, this also opens physical security up to the world of cyber-attacks. At Quantum Lock, we use quantum random number generation to generate completely random and unpredictable digital keys to be used by connected equipment in a facility. This quantum technology is then paired with end-to-end encryption and a one-time-key communication protocol to ensure the highest level of security. Through the Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we have developed benchtop prototypes of our technology, connected with utility boards as our first target customers, and prepared for our first pilot with customers (target end of summer 2022).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Quantum Lock Technologies: Innovation Crossroads Final Report

At Quantum Lock Technologies, our mission is to use future-proof hardware and software to bridge the gap between physical access control and cyber security. Physical security includes access to doors, lockboxes/containers, and machinery/robots. Connecting physical access control to the cloud allows for remote detection, fast ledger updates, and mobile or remote access. However, this also opens physical security up to the world of cyber-attacks. At Quantum Lock, we use quantum random number generation to generate completely random and unpredictable digital keys to be used by connected equipment in a facility. This quantum technology is then paired with end-to-end encryption and a one-time-key communication protocol to ensure the highest level of security. Through the Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we have developed benchtop prototypes of our technology, connected with utility boards as our first target customers, and prepared for our first pilot with customers (target end of summer 2022). Below is a photograph of myself at an energy substation where we plan to eventually apply our technology.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

Quantum Lock Technologies: Innovation Crossroads Final CRADA Report

At Quantum Lock Technologies, our mission is to use future-proof hardware and software to bridge the gap between physical access control and cyber security. Physical security includes access to doors, lockboxes/containers, and machinery/robots. Connecting physical access control to the cloud allows for remote detection, fast ledger updates, and mobile or remote access. However, this also opens physical security up to the world of cyber-attacks. At Quantum Lock, we use quantum random number generation to generate completely random and unpredictable digital keys to be used by connected equipment in a facility. This quantum technology is then paired with end-to-end encryption and a one-time-key communication protocol to ensure the highest level of security. Through the Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we have developed benchtop prototypes of our technology, connected with utility boards as our first target customers, and prepared for our first pilot with customers (target end of summer 2022). Below is a photograph of myself at an energy substation where we plan to eventually apply our technology.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Er-doped anatase TiO 2 thin films on LaAlO 3 (001) for quantum interconnects (QuICs)

Rare-earth ions (REIs) doped into solid-state crystal hosts offer an attractive platform for realizing quantum interconnects that can function as quantum memories and quantum repeaters. The 4f valence electrons of REIs are shielded by 5s and 5p electrons and undergo highly coherent transitions even when embedded in host crystals. In particular, Er 3+ has an optical transition in the telecom band that is suitable for low-loss communication. Recently, REIs in thin film systems have gained interest due to potential advantages in providing a flexible host crystal environment, enabling scalable on-chip integration with other quantum devices. Here, we investigate the structural and optical properties of Er-doped anatase TiO 2 thin films on LaAlO 3 (001) substrates. By choosing a system with minimal lattice mismatch and adjusting Er-dopant concentration, we achieve optical inhomogeneous linewidths of 5 GHz at 4.5 K. Furthermore, we show that 9 nm-thick buffer and capping layers can reduce the linewidth by more than 40%, suggesting a pathway to further narrowing linewidths in this system. We also identify that Er 3+ ions mainly incorporate into substitutional Ti 4+ sites with non-polar D 2d symmetry, which makes Er dopants insensitive to the first order to local electric fields from impurities and is desirable for coherence properties of Er 3+ spins.

42 ENGINEERING↗

GenASiS Basics: Object-oriented utilitarian functionality for large-scale physics simulations (Version 4)

GenASiS Basics provides modern Fortran classes furnishing extensible object-oriented utilitarian functionality for large-scale physics simulations on distributed memory supercomputers. This functionality includes physical units and constants; display to the screen or standard output device; message passing; I/O to disk; and runtime parameter management and usage statistics. Herein, this revision—Version 4 of Basics—includes a name change and additions to functionality, including the facilitation of direct communication between GPUs.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

First Time-Resolved Leader Spectra Associated With a Downward Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flash Detected at the Telescope Array Surface Detector

Optical emissions associated with Terrestrial Gamma ray Flashes (TGFs) have recently become important subjects in space-based and ground-based observations as they can help us understand how TGFs are produced during thunderstorms. In this paper, we present the first time-resolved leader spectra of the optical component associated with a downward TGF. The TGF was observed by the Telescope Array Surface Detector (TASD) simultaneously with other lightning detectors, including a Lightning Mapping Array (LMA), an INTerFerometer (INTF), a Fast Antenna (FA), and a spectroscopic system. The spectroscopic system recorded leader spectra at 29,900 frames per second (33.44 μs time resolution), covering a spectral range from 400 to 900 nm, with 2.1 nm per pixel. The recordings of the leader spectra began 11.7 ms before the -18 kA return stroke and at a height of 2.37 km above the ground. These spectra reveal that optical emissions of singly ionized nitrogen and oxygen occur between 167 μs before and 267 μs after the TGF detection, while optical emissions of neutrals (H I, 656 nm; N I, 744 nm, and O I, 777 nm) occur right at the moment of the detection. The time-dependent spectra reveal differences in the optical emissions of lightning leaders with and without downward TGFs.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Moiré quantum chemistry: Charge transfer in transition metal dichalcogenide superlattices

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) bilayers have recently emerged as a robust and tunable moiré system for studying and designing correlated electron physics. In this Rapid Communication, by combining a large-scale first-principles calculation and continuum model approach, we provide an electronic structure theory that maps long-period TMD heterobilayer superlattices onto diatomic crystals with cations and anions. We find that the interplay between the moiré potential and Coulomb interaction leads to filling-dependent charge transfer between different moiré superlattice regions. Further, we show that the insulating state at half filling found in recent experiments on WSe 2 /WS 2 is a charge-transfer insulator rather than a Mott-Hubbard insulator. Our work reveals the richness of simplicity in moiré quantum chemistry.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Architecture for fast implementation of quantum low-density parity-check codes with optimized Rydberg gates

Here, we propose an implementation of bivariate bicycle codes [S. Bravyi et al., Nature (London) 627, 778 (2024)] based on long-range Rydberg gates between stationary neutral atom qubits. An optimized layout of data and ancilla qubits reduces the maximum Euclidean communication distance needed for nonlocal parity-check operators. An optimized Rydberg gate pulse design enables 𝖢𝖹 entangling operations with fidelity $\mathscr{F}$ >0.999 at a distance greater than 12 µ⁢m. The combination of optimized layout and gate design leads to a quantum error correction cycle time of ∼1.2⁢8 ms for a [[144,12,12]] code, which is nearly a factor-of-two improvement over previous designs.

Poole, C. [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United↗

Semiconductor quantum dots: Technological progress and future challenges

In quantum-confined semiconductor nanostructures, electrons exhibit distinctive behavior compared with that in bulk solids. This enables the design of materials with tunable chemical, physical, electrical, and optical properties. Zero-dimensional semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) offer strong light absorption and bright narrowband emission across the visible and infrared wavelengths and have been engineered to exhibit optical gain and lasing. These properties are of interest for imaging, solar energy harvesting, displays, and communications. Here, we offer an overview of advances in the synthesis and understanding of QD nanomaterials, with a focus on colloidal QDs, and discuss their prospects in technologies such as displays and lighting, lasers, sensing, electronics, solar energy conversion, photocatalysis, and quantum information.

García de Arquer, F. Pelayo↗

Distributed deep learning training using silicon photonic switched architectures

The scaling trends of deep learning models and distributed training workloads are challenging network capacities in today’s datacenters and high-performance computing (HPC) systems. We propose a system architecture that leverages silicon photonic (SiP) switch-enabled server regrouping using bandwidth steering to tackle the challenges and accelerate distributed deep learning training. In addition, our proposed system architecture utilizes a highly integrated operating system-based SiP switch control scheme to reduce implementation complexity. To demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal, we built an experimental testbed with a SiP switch-enabled reconfigurable fat tree topology and evaluated the network performance of distributed ring all-reduce and parameter server workloads. The experimental results show up to 3.6× improvements over the static non-reconfigurable fat tree. Our large-scale simulation results show that server regrouping can deliver up to 2.3× flow throughput improvement for a 2× tapered fat tree and a further 11% improvement when higher-layer bandwidth steering is employed. The collective results show the potential of integrating SiP switches into datacenters and HPC systems to accelerate distributed deep learning training.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Intersubband transitions in nonpolar and semipolar III-nitrides: Materials, devices, and applications

In the last two decades, the third-generation wide bandgap semiconductor III-nitrides have revolutionized a myriad of electronic and photonic devices and applications, including power electronics, extreme-environment electronics, RF amplifiers, and optoelectronics such as light-emitting diodes and laser diodes. Recently, III-nitride heterostructures (e.g., AlGaN/GaN) based intersubband transition (ISBT) has garnered considerable research interest for infrared (IR), terahertz (THz), and ultrafast optoelectronics (e.g., photodetectors and quantum cascade lasers) due to its large conduction band offset, large optical phonon energy, and promising room-temperature operation. This paper presents a comprehensive review on the recent progress and challenges of III-nitrides based ISBT from the perspectives of materials, structures, devices, and applications, with a focus on nonpolar and semipolar III-nitrides. Various device structures have been demonstrated for III-nitrides based ISBT, including quantum wells, dots, and wires, among which AlGaN/GaN quantum wells are the most widely used. The effects of device parameters, crystal orientations, and doping on the ISBT properties of AlGaN/GaN quantum wells are discussed. Although the room-temperature operation is still elusive, theoretical and experimental studies show that nonpolar and semipolar III-nitrides based ISBT exhibits tunable ISBT wavelength from far-IR to THz spectral range with higher efficiency compared with polar c-plane ISBT. This review can serve as a gateway to and an important reference for the recent progress and challenges of III-nitrides based ISBT and its potential applications in sensing, communication, ultrafast optoelectronics, and integrated photonics.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Isotropically conducting (hidden) quantum Hall stripe phases in a two-dimensional electron gas

Quantum Hall stripe (QHS) phases, predicted by the Hartree-Fock theory, are manifested in GaAs-based two-dimensional electron gases as giant resistance anisotropies. In this communication, we predict a “hidden” QHS phase which exhibits isotropic resistivity whose value, determined by the density of states of QHS, is independent of the Landau index $N$ and is inversely proportional to the Drude conductivity at zero magnetic field. At high enough $N$, this phase yields to an Ando-Unemura-Coleridge-Zawadski-Sachrajda phase in which the resistivity is proportional to 1/$N$ and to the ratio of quantum and transport lifetimes. Experimental observation of this border should allow one to find the quantum relaxation time.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

A Pockels cell enabled heterodyne phase contrast imaging diagnostic for detection of ion cyclotron emission

This work describes a novel optical heterodyne detection scheme that significantly extends the frequency response of the phase contrast imaging method to detect electron density fluctuations in tens of megahertz frequency range. The system employs a variable frequency electro-optic modulator to allow operation at any frequency in the range 10–40 MHz without the need to realign the system. The frequency coverage of the system makes it suitable to measure the radial structure of the electron density component of ion cyclotron emission on devices having confining magnetic field of a few tesla, thus extending the purely temporal measurements provided so far by magnetic probes.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Large-Scale Materials Modeling at Quantum Accuracy: Ab Initio Simulations of Quasicrystals and Interacting Extended Defects in Metallic Alloys

Ab initio electronic-structure has remained dichotomous between achievable accuracy and length-scale. Quantum many-body (QMB) methods realize quantum accuracy but fail to scale. Density functional theory (DFT) scales favorably but remains far from quantum accuracy. We present a framework that breaks this dichotomy by use of three interconnected modules: (i) invDFT: a methodological advance in inverse DFT linking QMB methods to DFT; (ii) MLXC: a machine-learned density functional trained with invDFT data, commensurate with quantum accuracy; (iii) DFT-FE-MLXC: an adaptive higher-order spectral finite-element (FE) based DFT implementation that integrates MLXC with efficient solver strategies and HPC innovations in FE-specific dense linear algebra, mixed-precision algorithms, and asynchronous compute-communication. Furthermore, we demonstrate a paradigm shift in DFT that not only provides an accuracy commensurate with QMB methods in ground-state energies, but also attains an unprecedented performance of 659.7 PFLOPS (43.1% peak FP64 performance) on 619,124 electrons using 8,000 GPU nodes of Frontier supercomputer.

density functional theory↗

Live-Cell Quantum Dot-Based Tracking of Plant & Microbial Extracellular Vesicles

All cellular organisms examined to date release various types of small vesicles called extracellular vesicles (EVs). They were originally thought to be unimportant, but research into EVs as carriers of key messages for communication within large, multicellular organisms or between interacting organisms has gained interest in many different scientific areas of study. Recently, it was discovered that both plants and their pathogenic fungi generate EVs and they are important vehicles for sending plant signals to thwart invasion by fungal pathogens, and in response, fungi use EVs to help evade plant defenses. This project aimed to develop new ways to visualize EVs and their potential nucleic acid cargo isolated from the crop plant, sorghum. We adapted a click chemistry-based method for making quantum dot-based RNA sensors, which will be a useful tool for others studying small RNAs. These sensors were not used detect RNA in sorghum EVs because unlike EVs from Arabidopsis, sorghum EVs were not enriched for specific small RNAs. This interesting difference shifted the project in an exciting direction, which focused on comparing EV proteomes. Our study discovered that greater than 60% of Arabidopsis EV proteins were also found in the sorghum EV proteome, revealing a partial conservation between a eudicot and monocot plant. These studies have raised new, fundamental questions on the conserved function of EVs in plants.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

High acoustic velocity x -cut lithium niobate sub-terahertz electromechanics

Micromechanical resonators operating above 100 GHz are favorable candidates for quantum physics studies due to their stronger ability to withstand thermal fluctuations, allowing them to remain in the quantum ground state even at kelvin temperatures. Furthermore, electromechanical resonators at sub-terahertz frequencies enable high-speed data transfer in modern communication technologies, making them attractive for communication industries. Recently, sub-terahertz electromechanics has been demonstrated on z-cut thin-film lithium niobate. Yet, the x-cut thin-film lithium niobate is more advantageous for scaling above 100 GHz due to its faster acoustic velocity. Here, we report sub-terahertz electromechanics on x-cut thin-film lithium niobate utilizing the thickness-longitudinal mode. In addition, we study the orientation dependence of these mechanical resonators due to the anisotropy of lithium niobate. We find that devices with a cross section close to the xy plane can be more efficiently excited, in contrast to those near the xz plane. This difference stems from the orientation-dependent nature of the e12 piezoelectric coupling element of the x-cut lithium niobate film. This investigation could assist in optimizing resonator designs by choosing the crystallographic direction that offers the best performance for specific functionalities.

Physics↗

Optical and microstructural studies of erbium-doped TiO 2 thin films on silicon, SrTiO 3 , and sapphire

Rare-earth ion doped oxide thin films integrated on silicon substrates provide a route toward scalable, chip-scale platforms for quantum coherent devices. Erbium-doped TiO 2 is an attractive candidate: the Er 3+ optical transition is compatible with C-band optical fiber communications, while TiO 2 is an insulating dielectric compatible with silicon process technology. Through structural and optical studies of Er-doped TiO 2 thin films grown via molecular beam deposition on silicon, SrTiO 3 , and sapphire substrates, we have explored the impact of polycrystallinity and microstructure on the optical properties of the Er emission. Comparing polycrystalline TiO 2 (rutile)/Si with single-crystalline TiO 2 (rutile)/r-sapphire and polycrystalline TiO 2 (anatase)/Si with single-crystalline TiO 2 (anatase)/SrTiO 3 , we observe that the inhomogeneous linewidth (Γ inh ) of the most prominent peak in the Er spectrum (the Y 1 –Z 1 transition, 1520 and 1533 nm in rutile and anatase TiO 2 ) is significantly narrower in the polycrystalline case. This implies a relative insensitivity to extended structural defects and grain boundaries in such films (as opposed to, e.g., point defects). We show that the growth of an undoped, underlying TiO 2 buffer on Si can reduce Γ inh by a factor of 4–5. Expectedly, Γ inh also reduces with decreasing Er concentrations: we observe a ∼2 order of magnitude reduction from ∼1000 ppm Er to ∼10 ppm Er. Γ inh then gets limited to a residual value of ∼5 GHz that is insensitive to further reduction in the Er concentration. Based upon the above results, we argue that the optical properties in these thin films are limited by the presence of high “grown-in” point defect concentrations.

Chemical elements↗

Enhancing scalability of a matrix-free eigensolver for studying many-body localization

We propose several techniques to enhance the parallel scalability of a matrix-free eigensolver designed for studying many-body localization (MBL) of quantum spin chain models with nearest-neighbor interactions and on-site disorder. This type of problem is computationally challenging because the dimension of the associated Hamiltonian matrix grows exponentially with respect to the number of spins L, and we need to average over different realizations of the random disorder to obtain relevant statistical behavior. For each disorder realization, we need to compute eigenvalues from different regions of the spectrum and their corresponding eigenvectors. In previous work, the interior eigenstates for a single eigenvalue problem are computed via the shift-and-invert Lanczos algorithm. Due to the extremely high memory footprint of the LU factorizations, this technique is not well suited for large L’s. For example, we need thousands of compute nodes on modern high performance computing infrastructures to go beyond L = 24. The matrix-free approach does not suffer from this memory bottleneck, however, its scalability is limited by a computation and communication load imbalance. To reduce this imbalance and to significantly enhance the scalability of the matrix-free eigensolver, we reorder the matrix and leverage the consistent space runtime, CSPACER. We also show its efficiency in managing irregular communication patterns at scale compared to optimized MPI non-blocking two-sided and one-sided RMA implementation variants. This effort enables us to study MBL for spin chains with a larger number of spins. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by computing eigenstates on a massively parallel many-core high performance computer.

METIS↗