Russia defence & technology updates

[gadeshi]

Ramzan Kadyrov has done a test-drive of the new Russian Army buggy from ChechenAuto:

 

[gadeshi]

More than 500 000 former Russian citizens have return back from emigration in 2016:

 

[gadeshi]

The 5-th Kalibr-capable Project 636.3 diesel-electric submarine Velikiy Novgorod has been delivered to Black Sea Fleet:

 

[gadeshi]

50/51 ICS crew is ready to go:
A new Filanovskiy oil deposites in Kaspian sea:

 

[gadeshi]

RosOboronExport demonstrate 225 weapons systems on Indo-Defence -2016 in Indonesia:
Russia, Serbia and Belarus conduct Slavonic Brotherhood-2016 VDV trials:
CIS air forces joint trials:

 

[gadeshi]

India to buy 464 T-90MS Proryv:
http://warfiles.ru/show-134244-kontrakt-veka-indiya-zakupit-464-rossiyskih-tanka-t-90ms-proryv.html

 

[gadeshi]

Soyuz-MS return module has been transported to Moscow:

 

[Bahamut]

Russia crafting line of ‘dragonfly’ drones
Military & Defense
September 29, 11:50 UTC+3
The miniature copters the size of a dragonfly will be capable of detecting the enemy’s disguised equipment and manpower round-the-clock
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© Yevgeny Kurskov/TASS
MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/. Russia’s United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation (UIMC, part of the state Rostec Corporation) is developing a line of miniature unmanned aircraft capable of detecting the enemy’s disguised equipment and manpower round-the-clock.



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"The miniature copters the size of a dragonfly fit in the palm of a human hand and are in fact pocket drones. They make almost no noise, they are easy to operate and maneuver well. Their operational range is not very wide but it is enough to fulfill the surveillance tasks concerning close combat, security protection and participation in anti-terrorist operations. These drones are relatively inexpensive so it is easy to replace them in case they are lost," a source in the corporation told TASS.

The small drones are equipped with thermal scopes, video and photocameras capable of transmitting HD quality data via remote control.

According to the source, the copters under development can be utilized at large industrial enterprises where there is a need to control the thermal state of various facilities. Firefighters and rescue services can also use these copters while searching for victims, detecting fire areas, assessing the situation and determining the ways of evacuation.

These miniature drones are the counterpart of the Norwegian 16-gram unmanned coptercraft dubbed the Black Hornet, that the British and the US special forces use.



More:
http://tass.com/defense/902921

 

[Bahamut]

News Feed


Russian scientists develop new sensors to help fight terrorism and pollution
Science & Space
November 02, 16:06UTC+3
The binary sensor model devised by scientists makes use of a mixed system comprised of a catalytic region able to effectively bind to the particles of a substance under detection
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© Sergei Bobylev/TASS


MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/ Researchers from the Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ICP RAS) and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have introduced a new model of sensors which are by far more sensitive to chemical pollutants and explosives than those currently available on the market, the MIPT’s press service said. The results of the study have been published in Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical.



READ ALSO

Russian scientists develop new sensor that can ‘sniff out’ single molecule of explosives


"By choosing an appropriate sensor composition we have made our device at least ten times more effective and exceptionally quick in responding, which is crucial for preventing terrorist attacks," said the leader of research team, Professor Leonid Trakhtenberg from the Department of Molecular and Chemical Physics at MIPT and the head of the Laboratory of Functional Nanocomposites at ICP RAS.

The binary sensor model devised by scientists makes use of a mixed system comprised of a catalytic region able to effectively bind to the particles of a substance under detection (for instance harmful, pollutant gases or explosives) and the region with high electron concentration which is very sensitive to the chemical reaction in the catalytic region and responds by altering the conductivity. By measuring the changes of the sensor’s conductivity, one can locate the contact of the sensor with the target substances which needs to be detected.

In the future, further investigations of sensor capabilities are scheduled, where particular attention will be paid to choosing perspective combinations of catalytic and conductive centers for detecting various substances.



More:
http://tass.com/science/910224

 

[Bahamut]

Russian scientists’ MRI brain research pinpoints roots of speech disorders
Science & Space
November 02, 13:47 UTC+3
The study conducted by HSE researchers is of great importance not only for curing people with aphasia, but also for a deeper understanding of the brain’s working principles
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© Sergei Bobylev/TASS
MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/ Researchers from the Laboratory of Neurolinguistics at National Research Center Higher School of Economics (HSE) have gained new insights into the roots of semantic aphasia, the distortion of speech and perception of spatial relations. The development, recently presented in the journal Cortex, might be of a great importance for surgeons dealing with brain surgery, said the press service of HSE.

"By means of structural MRI imaging, we have succeeded in collecting new data which demonstrate that the disturbances in the brain’s temporal, parietal, and occipital cortex are present not for all patients, whereas the distortions in the funicles (bundles of neurons) or in the conductive paths which connect different brain areas are typical for the majority of cases," said Olga Dragoy, the Chief of Laboratory of Neurolinguistics at HSE and the principal author of the study.



READ ALSO
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Scientists solved structure of new protein to be used for genome editing
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In the case of semantic aphasia, spatial relations are impaired. For instance, the subjects cannot mirror the movements of other people and do not understand the meaning of words indicating the relative position of objects spatially, as e.g. "in", "behind", "over", "under", "above", "below".

About 70 years ago, the outstanding Soviet neuropsychologist Alexander Luria included semantic aphasia in his classification of aphasias (speech disturbances) by showing that the deficiency of logical connections between words in sentences is consistent with non-linguistic (spatial) disturbances. Luria studied the aftermath of gunshot victims from World War II veterans and came to the conclusion that the semantic aphasia appeared only in very particular disorders in the cortex parts of the left hemisphere: where the temporal, parietal, and occipital cortex areas intersect. The new study has added new insights into the previous data.

The study done by HSE researchers is of great importance not only for curing people with aphasia, but also for a deeper understanding of the brain’s working principles as this work has led to the idea that the usage of language is not solely connected with the functioning of basic "language" areas in the brain, but is the result of constant intercommunication between many of the brain’s divisions.



More:
http://tass.com/science/910186

 

[Bahamut]

Russian physicists put forward new way to calculate fluctuation forces
Science & Space
October 31, 17:49 UTC+3
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© Denis Vyshinsky/ITAR-TASS
MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/ Professors Galina Klimchitskaya and Vladimir Mostepanenko from Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) have suggested an alternative approach for calculating fluctuation forces in microdevices, said the media center of SPbPU.



READ ALSO

Russian, Japanese physicists create compact graphene-based plasmon generator


The new method has been successfully approved experimentally and will be helpful in creating various thin-film coatings and graphene-based devices where the proper account for dispersion forces is of primary importance.

"In 2016, American scientists from Indiana University and Purdue University Indianapolis carried out a landmark experiment confirming the forecasts of Russian physicists," the press release reported. Up to that time, the task of evaluating fluctuation forces had remained unsolved, because the results gained from the standard approaches of quantum statistical physics contradicted the experimental data.

What are fluctuation forces and why it is important to calculate them?
Caused by quantum effects, the fluctuation forces (Van-der-Waals forces, Casimir forces) act between objects located in close proximity. They arise from a vacuum and appear due to very small quantum-mechanical deviations (fluctuations) of electrical and magnetic fields values which cannot be eliminated and fixed even at absolute zero.

When dealing with objects sized less than several hundred nanometers, one needs to take into account the fluctuation forces to reproduce their properties and characteristics, since at this scale the impact of Casimir forces on the overall behavior of the system becomes essential.

Exemplarily, the Casimir forces can lead to the coalescing of the microdevice’s elements.

What did the Russian scientists put forward?
According to the approach introduced by the SPbPU researchers, the materials show different responses when exposed to the real electromagnetic fields of non-zero strength or to the quantum fluctuations characterized by zero mean values of fields. In particular, the quantum fluctuations do not cause the appearance of real currents in metals and consequently, do not heat them. This difference forms the key idea to the new statistical approach of calculating fluctuation forces.

The basics of this unique method have been presented in a series of articles in leading international journals: Physical Review Letters, Physical Review A, and Physical Review B, with the last two articles being published in September and October 2016. The study’s results can be useful for developing various microdevices, for example, for biomedical purposes.



More:
http://tass.com/science/909845

 

[Bahamut]

Russian scientists discover aggression causes new nerve cells to be generated in brain
Science & Space
February 03, 16:51 UTC+3
The new publication confirms a previous theory - mice that are accustomed to fighting not only behave differently, but their brain starts to function in a different way
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© ITAR-TASS/Alexander Ryumin
MOSCOW, 3 февраля. /TASS /. A group of neurobiologists from Russia and the United States have proven experimentally that aggression has an influence on the production of new nerve cells in the brain. The scientists conducted a series of experiments on male mice and published their findings in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) said in a press release.

Researchers from the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences(ICG SB RAS), MIPT, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Stony Brook University and School of Medicine studied the changes that occurred in the brains of mice demonstrating aggressive behavior, which attacked other mice and won in fights. After a win, these mice became even more aggressive, and new neurons appeared in their hippocampus - one of the key structures of the brain; in addition to this, in mice that were allowed to continue fighting certain changes were observed in the activity of their nerve cells. The scientists hope that the new information on the neurobiological bases of aggression will not only help in understanding this important phenomenon, but will also encourage research in other areas - and even help in finding causes of autism and other similar disorders in humans.

The experimental scheme
This is how the experiment itself was conducted: pairs of male mice were placed in a cage bisected by a partition. The partition allowed the animals to see, hear, and smell each other, but did not allow physical contact. Every day, in the early afternoon, the partition was removed and the observations began: it did not normally take long for fights to break out. After two or three encounters the winner was established and was then (after three minutes, or sometimes less to avoid injuries to the defeated male) separated from its neighbor again. After repeating the process for three days in a row, the scientists changed the mice in the cages, randomly placing defeated males with a new neighbor (but, most importantly, each time a defeated male was placed in the same cage as another winning male). In one group, after three weeks of these rotations, winners were prevented from entering into confrontation, and in another group the mice continued to fight with one another.

The scientists also conducted a series of tests to demonstrate the effect of aggression not on the brain, but on behavior. For example, the mice were placed in a cross-shaped maze (plus-maze) where one corridor was closed and the other was an open space. The more time that the mice preferred to spend in the dark, closed space, the more their behavior could be described as "avoiding risk".

The mice were placed in a cage with a transparent partition and another male on the other side - the more time the mice spent close to the barrier, the higher the level of potential aggression. This interpretation is consistent with the fact that the active animals in the study tend to attack their partners if the opportunity arises (tests were also performed to prove this).

All the tests showed that males with winning experience in a number of fights display a more "brazen" attitude - they approach the transparent partition more often and initiate an attack on their opponents more quickly. If the mice were deprived of fighting for a period of time before the test, they became even more aggressive: the latency to the first attack was almost three times less, and the fights themselves lasted for longer. But what is particularly interesting is that at the same time their level of anxiety increased - a male who succeeded in tearing out patches of hair from the back of a weaker mouse would rather avoid open spaces, preferring to sit in the dark wherever possible.

The influence of aggression on the brain structure
Simply observing individual neurons, or even groups of neurons, does not give a complete picture. The location of the cells needs to be taken into account. The activity of neurons in different regions of the brain may vary significantly, as these regions perform different functions.

In this particular study, the scientists examined the hippocampus and the amygdala. It is often said that the amygdala is associated with emotions, and the hippocampus with memory, and this is generally true - but it should be clarified that despite this, memory is not localized in the hippocampus, and to experience emotions even mice need more than just the amygdala.

Comparing the activity of the amygdala and the hippocampus enabled scientists to trace the influence of the aggression experiment on two key structures at once. Past evidence suggested that in aggressive and socially active mice, more new neurons are produced in the hippocampus, and in specially bred lines of mice with increased aggressive behavior, the level of neurogenesis is also higher than those who were selected on the basis of reduced aggression.

In this experiment, scientists discovered that with repeated fights the level of the c-fos protein increases in the hippocampus, but decreases in the amygdala. And if the mouse is prevented from being involved in further fights, these changes do not occur in the function of immediate early genes, although new neurons still develop. The researchers also conducted a number of additional tests and experiments to interpret the observations made.

The new publication confirms a previous theory - mice that are accustomed to fighting not only behave differently, but their brain starts to function in a different way. The number of new cells of the hippocampus increases, and if the mice are allowed to continue fighting, the activity of existing cells also changes. New cells seem to be one of the key mechanisms of the increase in aggression and, perhaps, also anxiety - although scientists are not yet certain of this: the winning reputation of an aggressive and dominant mouse would almost certainly need to be backed up by new fights, but this is not something that will help to reduce anxiety.


More:
http://tass.com/science/854268

 

[sorcerer]

Russia unveils first driverless bus at Skolkovo

Mikhail Tereschenko / Moskva Agency

Mikhail Tereschenko / Moskva Agency

Mikhail Tereschenko / Moskva Agency

Mikhail Tereschenko / Moskva Agency

Mikhail Tereschenko / Moskva Agency

1/5

The first electronically controlled and operated driverless bus, called the "Matrёshka" (“Matryoshka”) has been unveiled at Moscow’s Skolkovo Innovation Centre. This is the first vehicle of its kind in Russia. It is designed to carry up to eight passengers.

The vehicle debuted at the annual international forum of innovative development, "Open Innovation", held between October 26 and 28, 2016, reports the news agency Moscow.

The bus is controlled by computers and is equipped with self-learning software. There are specialized sensors and cameras on board which are able to observe the situation on the road in real-time. With a full battery, the bus can travel 80 miles, at a maximum speed of 20 mph.

Testing for the bus was supposed to begin in October this year, it was earlier reported, in a closed area of the Skolkovo Innovation Centre. Production of the bus is planned for 2017 at the Volga bus factory in Vladimirsky Region. It has also been reported that the Volga bus factory built the first Russian self-driving bus.

https://www.gazeta.ru/auto/news/2016/10/27/n_9266351.shtml#!photo=4

 

[Bahamut]

St. Petersburg innovators sharpen laser correlation spectroscopy for medical research use
Science & Space
October 26, 12:38 UTC+3
The new method of analysis can be applied in researching the impact of various factors (pharmaceuticals, allergens) on the proteins of blood plasma and choosing optimal treatment
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© Artem Geodakyan/TASS
MOSCOW, October 26. /TASS/ Scientists from the Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) have developed a new technique for analyzing signals of laser correlation spectroscopy (LCS) used for determining the sizes of nano-and micro-particles in solutions, said the SPbPU’s media center. The innovation can be applied in the analysis of liquid samples in medical research, in ecology monitoring, and in control of technical liquids. So, the scope of the newly introduced method by far exceeds those of existing tools.

"In our method, the precision in measuring of particles with various sizes surpassed the capabilities of current mass-produced devices by 20-60% depending on the number of components in the researched solution," said Elena Velichko, Chief Operating Director of The Higher School of Applied Physics and Space Technologies at SPbPU.



READ ALSO
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Making use of optical observations, LCS allows for defining diffusion factors of particles in solutions and hence for measuring their size. Before, the possible applications of LCS were limited, as the small particles, analyzed in a solution, had to be of uniform size. With this ground-breaking approach, Russian researchers have succeeded to overcome this obstacle.

In this study, various methods of treating LCS signals were compared. As a result, the algorithm based on the development of Soviet mathematician and physicist Andrey Tikhonov (the Tikhonov regularization) was selected. The usage of this algorithm facilitated the implementation of a faster method for solving a system of nonlinear equations, which in turn led to accelerating the cycle of retrieving particles sizes from experimental data by several times. Additionally, the precision of defining particles sizes in multi-component solutions was substantially increased by introducing an additional computational parameter to test the researched solution for the number of components.

The new method of analysis can be applied for conducting complex medical studies, for instance in researching the impact of various factors (pharmaceuticals, allergens etc) on the proteins of blood plasma and choosing optimal pharmaceutical and medical treatment. Moreover, the development could be useful in the ecological monitoring of water resources and in control of the composition of technical liquids.

The authors of this innovation have already received a registration certificate, which is a special type of a patent, but issued for programs. Now, the researchers are preparing to implement the technology. The results of the study have been presented at several international conferences and symposia with the last one being The Fourth International Symposium Optics and Biophotonics - ‘Saratov Fall Meeting’.



More:
http://tass.com/science/908765

 

[Bahamut]

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Russian scientists create "smart foil" for mounting industrial transducers
Science & Space
October 27, 13:54UTC+3
Piezoelectric crystals are needed for transducers at radiolocation stations, particularly in the aircraft and oil industry
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© Media center SPbPU


MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/ Researchers from Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) have come up with a new technological breakthrough for mounting piezoelectric crystals (material able to accumulate electricity in response to applied mechanical stress) onto conducting substrates, the media center of SPbPU announced. The technology has been dubbed "Smart Foil".

Piezoelectric crystals are needed for transducers at radiolocation stations, particularly in the aircraft and oil industry. However, when working with these crystals, one has always faced a problem of attaching piezoelectrics to the conducting surfaces. Usual conducting adhesives do not demonstrate required conductivity, and their adhesion is not durable enough. Basically, the application of classical soldering is impossible, as crystals are extremely fragile and thermally-sensitive.



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Scientists have offered up a new method for mounting such transducers: the cold soldering by reaction self-heating nano brazing. In this technique, the transducer is covered by several thousand nano-sized layers which form a "smart foil". The layer comprised of foil can interact with each other over the course of the self-propagating high-temperature synthesis. During this reaction, the foil is heated up to 1,700 degrees Celsius and melts attaching the transducer to the surface.

The temperature is high enough to fasten the transducer, but it fails to penetrate deep into the attached material and damages the transducer. The new method allows for mounting transmitting blocks with soldering durability, with conventional soldering this is not possible for such elements.

According to SPbPU’s media center, the development was set as a trade secret, but it already has found applications in several industrial enterprises as OAO "Microwave systems", OAO "Fomos-Materials" and others.

In future, the technology of creating such self-soldering crystals will be developed further for attaching complex microelectromechanical systems on the grounds, as well as in the maintaining super-high frequency modules.



More:
http://tass.com/science/909024

 

[Bahamut]

Tyumen scientists create liquid microlenses applicable in medicine and navigation systems
Science & Space
October 11, 17:32 UTC+3
Over the last decade, adaptive liquid optics has drawn particular interest among scientists from all over the world
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© Ruslan Shamukov/ TASS, archive
MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/ Scientists from Tyumen State University (TyumSU) have come up with liquid microlenses which mimic accommodative system of the eye, that is, they are able to focus due to changes in the surface curvature. This development might find its application in medicine and navigation systems, the press office of TyumSU said.



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Researchers have synthesized a solution which by irradiation with a light beam aggregates into a drop und acts as a plane-convex lens. During the scientific conference, Photon, at the University of Leeds (UK) in September, Alexander Malyuk, a Research Assistant from the Laboratory of Photonics and Microfluidics at TyumSU gave a speech covering the recent innovation. "The surface curvature can be easily fine-tuned by varying the irradiation intensity. In other words, the more intense light we apply, the smaller the diameter of the lens becomes, the bigger the curvature, and the shorter the focal distance we get, and vice versa, the less intensive light that is applied, the greater the diameter of the lens becomes, the smaller the drop in curvature, and the larger the focal distance we get," Malyuk said.

That said, the limits of tunable focal distance are defined by starting solution properties as surface tension, viscosity, vapor pressure, and many others. According to Malyuk, the development can be successfully applied in microbiology and medicine, in navigation systems, in laser control and diagnostics, as well as in systems and devices for data transmission.

Two scientific articles summarizing the new results have already been prepared for publication, further studies devoted to boosting the efficiency of liquid microlenses are scheduled at TyumSU.

Over the last decade, adaptive liquid optics has drawn particular interest among scientists from all over the world. By comparison to solid analogous devices, liquid optics can focus an unlimited number of times without wearing away and what’s important is that the process can go faster due to the liquid’s fluidity. Thanks to the tunable focal distance within a broad range, the liquid lenses enable the reduction of the most complex optical systems.



More:
http://tass.com/science/905725

 

[Bahamut]

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Physicists discover way to speed up computers using T-rays
Science & Space
October 10, 17:57UTC+3
The researchers devised a fast and highly efficient remagnetization technique, a solid foundation for developing ultrafast memory
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© Ruslan Shamukov/ TASS


MOSCOW, October 10. /TASS/ Russian scientists from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), A.M. Prokhorov General Physics Institute (GPI) together with their colleagues from Germany and the Netherlands have found a way to boost computer performance by utilizing T-rays, or terahertz radiation, the MIPT’s press office stated. This breakthrough was recently reported in the scientific journal, Nature Photonics.



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In modern computers, to set or reset memory cells in hardware, a magnetic field is used. According to the scientists, each memory manipulating operation requires some time which one cannot easily reduce. The joint research team proposed that electromagnetic pulses at terahertz frequencies with wavelengths of about 0.1 millimeters, i.e. between those of microwaves and infrared light, could be used in memory switching instead of external magnetic fields. A more familiar device that makes use of terahertz radiation is the airport body scanner. T-rays can expose weapons or explosives concealed under a person’s clothing without causing any harm to live tissues.

To find out whether T-rays could be used for convenient atom state switching, the researchers performed an experiment with thulium orthoferrite, a prototypical compound from the class of weak ferromagnets which are usually applied in hardware. The experiment has shown that the terahertz radiation pumps thulium atoms into an energized state and alters the magnetic properties of both iron and thulium ions, with the effect of T-rays being almost ten times greater than that of the external magnetic field. In other words, the researchers devised a fast and highly efficient remagnetization technique, a solid foundation for developing ultrafast memory.

In this study, the researchers chose thulium orthoferrite for demonstration purposes. But the proposed magnetization control scheme itself is applicable to many other magnetic materials.

Anatoly Zeldin, the co-author of the study and the research assistant at IGP, claims that this study on the magnetization control is a breakthrough in this field.



More:
http://tass.com/science/905418

 

[Bahamut]

Defective diamonds open route to ultrapower quantum computers
Science & Space
August 03, 22:02 UTC+3
The researchers have found out that the defect in the crystal lattice of diamonds emit single photons when the electric current passes through the diamond
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© ITAR-TASS/Yuri Mashkov


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Russian physicists create highly precise “quantum ruler”


MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/ Scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the University of Siegen, and the European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy have elucidated that a synthetic diamond with artificially created defects can act as a quantum emitter which might be applied for creating ultrapower quantum computers and in quantum encrypting systems, as reported by the press-service of MIPT.

The study published recently in the New Journal of Physics is devoted to the development of efficient electrically-driven single-photon sources – devices that emit single photons when an electrical current is applied. Using such devices, one can generate single photons one after another, but not simultaneously, like in electric bulb.

For quantum computing, it is crucial to have the ability to manipulate individual photons, as the working principle of quantum computers rests on the using single photons as an information unit. With the single-photon devices, it is possible not only to increase the energy efficiency of the existing data processing and data transmission devices by more than one thousand times but also to build quantum computers and to improve the existing cryptography systems.



READ ALSO

Russian scientists develop long-range secure quantum communication system


Until recently, the quantum dots (nanoscaled semiconductor particles) have been thought to be the most promising candidates for the single-photon sources. However, they operate only at very low temperatures, with the cooling process being quite expensive because of liquid nitrogen or even liquid helium needed for that.

The researchers have found out that the defect in the crystal lattice of diamonds, for instance, the inclusion of foreign atoms like silicon or nitrogen, emit single photons when the electric current passes through the diamond. The calculations show that doped diamond emitters create a very bright photon beam consisting of more than 100,000 photons per second. It is enough to increase the data transmission rate by the orders of magnitude if compared to the currently applied photon sources. Importantly, the diamond emitters function at room temperature.

Diamond photon emitters can replace attenuated lasers used in the existing system of quantum cryptography. The diamond-based sources allow for sending exactly the required amount of photons, whereas the attenuated lasers are known for the misfire, emitting zero or multiple photons in a random way which in turn increase the danger of signal intercept by a violator.



More:
http://tass.com/science/895721

 

[Bahamut]

Light-emitting glass created by Russian scientists to enhance solar panel efficiency
Science & Space
August 16, 23:51 UTC+3
Physicists have developed an optical luminescent glass that emits visible light under ultraviolet radiation
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LED light production, archive
© Dmitry Rogulin, TASS


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Scientists design LED with record-breaking efficiency


MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/. Physicists from the University of Informational Technologies, Mechanics, and Optics (ITMO) have made an optical luminescent glass that emits visible light under ultraviolet radiation, as reported by the press service of ITMO.

Scientists believe that the new glass can find applications in the solar energetics and LED (light emitting diodes) production. The study has been published in the Journal of Luminescence.

Ultraviolet light and dust reduce the performance of silicon solar cells. To protect cells against these negative factors, special glass screens is used. If the panel is covered not with ordinary glass but luminescent one which emits light upon absorbing ultraviolet radiation, it will not only protect cells from mechanical impurities but also significantly improve energy production through converted UV light.

The luminescent glass is produced at 1500 °С

© Picture is provided by the ITMO press service.


Scientists suggest utilizing the newly-introduced glass for durable LED fabrication. Such LEDs do not require yellow luminophore coating used in modern LED devices for white light production. Therefore, there is no need to renovate the lamp coating, the diodes will be cheaper and can operate within a longer time period.

In order to make the glass emit light under ultraviolet radiation, it is necessary to introduce silver ions in it. To do so, the glass is immersed in a molten silver salt at 320o Celsius, and the silver ions become embedded into the glass replacing sodium ions. The same technology of ion exchange is widely used to manufacture toughened glass for smartphones (e.g.Gorilla Glass) or for the strengthening of champagne bottles. But instead of silver, these applications rely on potassium ions.

The researchers have already reported the efficiency of UV to white light conversion to be 30%.

As the next goal, the doubling of the efficiency of new LEDs is scheduled.



More:
http://tass.com/science/895413

 

[Bahamut]

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Russian physicists create highly precise “quantum ruler”
Science & Space
June 23, 15:08UTC+3
The researchers have investigated entangled quantum N00N-states of photons, the particles of light in which a superposition of spacial positions not of the only one but of several photons appears
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Alexander Lvovsky and Alexander Ulanov in the Laboratory of Quantum Optics in RQC
© RQC press service




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Russian scientists develop long-range secure quantum communication system


MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/ The physicists from the Russian Quantum Center (RQC), Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the Lebedev Physical Institute, and L’Institut d’Optique (Palaiseau, France) have come up with a new technique for highly precise measurements of distances. They have utilized an effect of quantum entangled states, as reported by the popular-science web portal "Cherdak" at TASS, with the reference to the press service of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

To measure the distances to an accuracy of billionths of a meter, scientists have applied the quantum effects. Such a precision is required to detect gravitation waves. The results of the study have been published in Nature Communications.

“This technique makes it possible to use quantum effects to increase the accuracy of measuring the distance between observers that are separated from one another by a medium with losses. In this type of medium, for example, in the atmosphere, quantum features of light are easily destroyed,” comments Alexander Lvovsky, a co-author of the paper, the head of the RQC scientific team that conducted the research, and a professor at the University of Calgary (Canada).

The scheme sketches the SPCM - one-photon counting module which has detected separate photons, as well as homodyne detectors of Alice and Bob, the distance between those has been measured in the course of experiments

© Image taken from the original publication


The researches have studied N00N states of photons in which there is a superposition of spatial positions not of the only one but several photons. The term "superposition" comes form quantum mechanics implying that a quantum particle can simultaneously rest in two distinct states, that is, a multiphoton laser pulse built up by a manufold of photons in N00N-state is at two spatial points at the same time.

Upon interference, the N00N-states create fringes, with the distance between them being smaller than the wavelength. In optical interferometers, the devices used for discovery of gravitation waves within the LIGO project, the distance between fringes is approximately the same as a wavelength, i.e. 0.5-1 microns. Thus, the usage of entangled states will increase the precision of measurements of optical interferometers.

Entanglement swapping
The entangled quantum states “disentangle” when passing a medium even with small losses. The scientists have solved this problem with the use of the so-called "entanglement swapping."

“Suppose that both Alice and Bob, which in physics are usual nicknames for participants of quantum objects swapping, have an entangled state. If I take then one part of Alice’s entangled state, and an another part from Bob, and I do a joint measurement on them, the remaining parts of Alice’s and Bob’s states will also become entangled even though they have never interacted” says Lvovsky.

“In our experiment, Alice and Bob create two entangled states and send one of the parts to a medium with losses, which is simulated by darkened glass. A third observer, midway between Alice and Bob, conducts joint measurements on these parts. This results in entanglement swapping: the remaining parts of Alice and Bob’s states are in the N00N state. And as these parts have not experienced losses, they exhibit their quantum properties in full,” explains the lead author of the paper, Alexander Ulanov.

According to his opinion, the level of losses in the glass corresponds to an atmospheric thickness of approximately 50 kilometers between receiver and transmitter. In general, this method enables to accurately measure the distances in hundreds of kilometers. For comparison, the LIGO interferometer measures about 4 km. The present work will enable using the entangled quantum states effects in the highly precise measurement and, additionally, will increase notably the accuracy of measurements.



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