Topologically protected quantum bits from Josephson junction arrays

All physical implementations of quantum bits (qubits), carrying the information and computation in a putative quantum computer, have to meet the conflicting requirements of environmental decoupling while remaining manipulable through designed external signals. Proposals based on quantum optics naturally emphasize the aspect of optimal isolation, while those following the solid state route exploit the variability and scalability of modern nanoscale fabrication techniques. Recently, various designs using superconducting structures have been successfully tested for quantum coherent operation, however, the ultimate goal of reaching coherent evolution over thousands of elementary operations remains a formidable task. Protecting qubits from decoherence by exploiting topological stability, a qualitatively new proposal due to Kitaev, holds the promise for long decoherence times, but its practical physical implementation has remained unclear so far. Here, we show how strongly correlated systems developing an isolated two-fold degenerate quantum dimer liquid groundstate can be used in the construction of topologically stable qubits and discuss their implementation using Josephson junction arrays.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Hexagonal structure for intelligent vision

Using hexagonal grids to represent digital images have been studied for more than 40 years. Increased processing capabilities of graphic devices and recent improvements in CCD technology have made hexagonal sampling attractive for practical applications and brought new interests on this topic. The hexagonal structure is considered to be preferable to the rectangular structure due to its higher sampling efficiency, consistent connectivity and higher angular resolution and is even proved to be superior to square structure in many applications. Since there is no mature hardware for hexagonal-based image capture and display, square to hexagonal image conversion has to be done before hexagonal-based image processing. Although hexagonal image representation and storage has not yet come to a standard, experiments based on existing hexagonal coordinate systems have never ceased. In this paper, we firstly introduced general reasons that hexagonally sampled images are chosen for research. Then, typical hexagonal coordinates and addressing schemes, as well as hexagonal based image processing and applications, are fully reviewed. © 2005 IEEE

Dynamic graph-based search in unknown environments

A novel graph-based approach to search in unknown environments is presented. A virtual geometric structure is imposed on the environment represented in computer memory by a graph. Algorithms use this representation to coordinate a team of robots (or entities). Local discovery of environmental features cause dynamic expansion of the graph resulting in global exploration of the unknown environment. The algorithm is shown to have O(k.nH) time complexity, where nH is the number of vertices of the discovered environment and 1 <= k <= nH. A maximum bound on the length of the resulting walk is given

A New Framework Based on a Discrete Element Method to Model the Fracture Behavior for Brittle Polycrystalline Materials

This work aims to develop and implement a linear elastic grain-level micromechanical model based on the discrete element method using bonded contacts and an improved fracture criteria to capture both intergranular and transgranular microcrack initiation and evolution in polycrystalline ceramics materials. Gaining a better understanding of the underlying mechanics and micromechanics of the fracture process of brittle polycrystalline materials will aid in high performance material design. Continuum mechanics approaches cannot accurately simulate the crack propagation during fracture due to the discontinuous nature of the problem. In this work we distinguish between predominately intergranular failure (along the grain boundaries) versus predominately transgranular failure (across the grains) based on grain orientation and microstructural parameters to describe the contact interfaces and present the first approach at fracturing discrete elements. Specifically, the influence of grain boundary strength and stiffness on the fracture behavior of an idealized ceramic material is studied under three different loading conditions: uniaxial compression, brazilian, and four-point bending. Digital representations of the sample microstructures for the test cases are composed of hexagonal, prismatic, honeycomb-packed grains represented by rigid, discrete elements. The principle of virtual work is used to develop a microscale fracture criteria for brittle polycrystalline materials for tensile, shear, torsional and rolling modes of intergranular motion. The interactions between discrete elements within each grain are governed by traction displacement relationships