TcSUH
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Joint Colloquim
Whither Quantum Computing?
by: Dr. Barry Sanders
Date: Thursday April 12, 2012
Time: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
A working quantum computer would be revolutionary because certain problems, such as simulating quantum materials or factorization, are easily solved on a quantum computer and probably forever hard on non-quantum computers no matter how small or how fast. Quantum computing technology is at an early stage so we do not yet know which medium is best. I discuss the principles of quantum computing, technological efforts for its realization, and applications for when a quantum computer eventually works.
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Joint Colloquim
Mike Gorman's Flame
by: Prof. Norm Frankel
Date: Tuesday March 01, 2011
Time: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Location: Science & Research Building 1 – Building 550 — Room 634
Overview
Two of Mike's forte were the physics of flames and nonlinear dynamics of fluids inclusive of turbulence. This talk, to honor Mike, will be half on the former and half on the latter. It will be a "light" presentation within physics and personal realms.
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Joint Colloquim
String Theory and D-brane charge
by: Dr. Wilberth Herrera
Date: Tuesday March 01, 2011
Time: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
In the late 60's and early 70's , when String Theory was proposed, it was intended to explain the gravitational force at the quantum level, ie. a theory of quantum gravity. Initially String Theory included only strings as its basic mathematical objects. Today, in its modern incarnation, String Theory includes a number of different and exotic objects. One important example are D-branes, which are relevant when one wants to talk about string dynamics and interactions. One of the properties of D-branes is their charge, analogous to the electrical charge of the electron. In this talk we will discuss the mathematical framework to "measure" this charge and some consequences of this property.
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Joint Colloquim
Meso-Scale Correlated Electron Tunneling: Quantum Decay of the "False Vacuum" in the Laboratory
Date: Tuesday February 22, 2011
Time: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Location: Science & Research Building 1 – Building 550 — Room 634
Overview
This talk will outline new developments on time-correlated tunneling of electrons condensed into soliton domain walls in charge and spin density waves. The model treats the density wave as a quantum fluid in which condensed electrons coherently flow through a pinning barrier as soliton pairs nucleate via quantum decay of the "false vacuum." Experiments showing evidence for collective quantum tunneling up to 215 K, and the dual process of quantum nucleation of superconducting Josephson vortices, will be discussed. Finally, the talk will discuss broader implications, including bubble nucleation of universes and a proposed "theta = pi" instability for spontaneous CP violation formally similar to the "theta = pi" threshold field for soliton pair nucleation in density waves. Dr.
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Joint Colloquim
IBAD-Textured Coated Conductors
by: Dr. Vladimir Matias
Date: Wednesday May 28, 2008
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
Second generation high temperature superconducting (HTS) wire, also known as coated conductor, holds great promise, thanks to its relatively low cost and high superconducting critical currents, to enable a number of superconducting power applications. In this talk we review some of the progress on ion-beam assisted deposition (IBAD) textured coated conductors. At Los Alamos National Laboratory we have developed processes for continuous texturing of MgO on metal tapes, buffer layer depositions, and HTS deposition by laser ablation and reactive coevaporation. IBAD-MgO texturing is the enabling process for these coated conductors. It is an extremely fast process but requires smooth surfaces over long lengths, which is achieved in our laboratory by electropolishing or sol-gel planarization of metal alloy tapes. The research to date has demonstrated that IBAD-MgO texture can develop in less than one second. Under optimized processing conditions the in-plane mosaic spread FWHM for the MgO layer is less than 5° and less than 2° out-of-plane. In the YBCO layer the texture improves further to less than 2° in-plane and 1° out-of-plane. At this level of grain alignment critical currents in HTS are no longer limited by the grain boundaries. Critical currents for YBCO layers deposited on the IBAD-MgO templates have been steadily increasing over the last 10 years, and have been demonstrated to exceed 600 A/cm-width. An important remaining issue for coated conductors is the decrease of Jc with thickness of the HTS layer. We discuss methods of addressing this issue as well as other key outstanding challenges.
This work is funded by the Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability.
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