Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: computing

Self-adapting fiber component tackles heat challenges in high-power fiber lasers

Thulium fiber lasers, operating at a wavelength of 2 micrometers, are valued for applications in medicine, materials processing, and defense. Their longer wavelength makes stray light less damaging compared to the more common ytterbium lasers at 1 micrometer.

Yet, despite this advantage, thulium lasers have been stuck at around 1 kilowatt of output power for more than a decade, limited by nonlinear effects and heat buildup. One promising route to break this barrier is inband pumping—switching from diode pumping at 793 nm to laser pumping at 1.9 µm. This approach improves efficiency and reduces heat, but it introduces new challenges for fiber components, especially the cladding light stripper (CLS).

Terahertz device sets performance record and opens new quantum horizons

A prototype device that has demonstrated record-breaking longevity could help open up new frontiers in next-generation communications and computing technologies.

An international team of researchers from Scotland, the U.S. and Japan are behind the development of the terahertz-wave device, which was fabricated more than 11 years ago and still works as well as it did the day it was made.

The team’s tiny terahertz emitter device, which has elements that are less than the width of a human hair and can be powered by a single volt, could help overcome one of the key challenges holding back the widespread adoption of terahertz-wave technologies.

U.S government awards Gelsinger-backed EUV developer xLight with $150 million in federal incentives

XLight, a U.S.-based startup developing an EUV light source based on a particle accelerator, on Tuesday signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the U.S. Department of Commerce for $150 million in proposed federal incentives under the CHIPS and Science Act. xLight came out of the blue earlier this year when it hired Pat Gelsinger, former chief executive of Intel, as executive chairman. The money, if awarded, will be used to bring xLight’s free-electron laser (FEL) based light source closer to reality once it is built in Albany and its viability is proven in practice.

“With the support from the [Department of] Commerce, our investors, and development partners, xLight is building its first free-electron laser system at the Albany Nanotech Complex, where the world’s best lithography capabilities will enable the research and development that will define the future of chip manufacturing,” said Nicholas Kelez, CEO and CTO of xLight.

Synchrotron radiation sources: Toolboxes for quantum technologies

Synchrotron radiation sources generate highly brilliant light pulses, ranging from infrared to hard X-rays, which can be used to gain deep insights into complex materials.

An international team has published an overview of synchrotron methods for the further development of quantum materials and technologies in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

Using concrete examples, they show how these unique tools can help to unlock the potential of quantum technologies such as quantum computing, overcome production barriers and pave the way for future breakthroughs.

Glassed-in DNA makes the ultimate time capsule

Year 2015 face_with_colon_three

IF YOU must preserve messages for people in the far future to read, Blu-ray discs and USB sticks are no good. For real long-term storage, you want a DNA time capsule.

Just 1 gram of DNA is theoretically capable of holding 455 exabytes – enough for all the data held by Google, Facebook and every other major tech company, with room to spare. It’s also incredibly durable: DNA has been extracted and sequenced from 700,000-year-old horse bones. But conditions have to be right for it to last.

/* */