Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2024 - 24

Manufacturing &
Prototyping
control the properties you want in
metals, you can leverage the greener
aspects of 3D printing. "
Working with colleagues in Singapore,
Switzerland, Finland, and Australia,
Seita developed a new " recipe "
for 3D-printed metal that allows a high
degree of control over the internal
structure of the material as it is being
melted by a laser.
By controlling the way that the mais
generated
Image: www.cam.ac.uk
the 3D-printed metal part is placed in a furnace
at relatively low temperature. Their
method uses conventional laser-based
3D-printing technologies, but with a small
tweak to the process.
" We found that the laser can be used as a
'microscopic hammer' to harden the metal
during 3D printing, " said Seita. " However,
terial solidifies after melting, and the
amount of heat that
during the process, the researchers
can program the properties of the end
material. Normally, metals are designed
to be strong and tough, so that
they are safe to use in structural applications.
3D-printed metals are inherently
strong but also brittle.
The strategy the researchers developed
gives full control over both strength and
toughness, by triggering a controlled reconfiguration
of the microstructure when
melting the metal a second time with
the same laser relaxes the metal's structure,
allowing the structural reconfiguration
to take place when the part is
placed in the furnace. "
Their 3D-printed steel, which was designed
theoretically and validated experimentally,
was made with alternating
regions of strong and tough material,
making its performance comparable to
steel that's been made through heating
and beating.
" We think this method could help reduce
the costs of metal 3D printing,
which could in turn improve the sustainability
of the metal manufacturing
industry, " said Seita. " In the near future,
we also hope to be able to bypass the
low-temperature treatment in the furnace,
further reducing the number of steps required
before using 3D-printed parts in
engineering applications. "
For more information, contact Sarah
Collins at sarah.collins@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Computing Breakthrough: First Logical Quantum Processor
The technology could enable game-changing advances in a variety of fields, including medicine,
science, and finance.
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
H
arvard researchers have realized a
key milestone in the quest for stable,
scalable quantum computing, an
ultra-high-speed technology that will
enable game-changing advances in a
variety of fields, including medicine,
science, and finance.
The team, led by Mikhail Lukin, the
Joshua and Beth Friedman University
Professor in Physics and Co-Director of
the Harvard Quantum Initiative, has created
the
first
programmable, logical
quantum processor, capable of encoding
up to 48 logical qubits, and executing
hundreds of logical gate operations.
Published in Nature, the work was performed
in collaboration with Markus
Greiner, the George Vasmer Leverett
Professor of Physics; colleagues from
MIT; and QuEra Computing, a Boston
company founded on technology from
Harvard labs.
The system is the first demonstration
of large-scale algorithm execution on
an error-corrected quantum computer,
heralding the advent of early fault-tolerant,
or reliably uninterrupted, quantum
computation.
Lukin described the achievement as a
possible inflection point akin to the early
days in the field of artificial intelligence:
the ideas of quantum error correction
and fault tolerance, long theorized, are
starting to bear fruit.
A team led by quantum expert Mikhail Lukin (right) has achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing.
Dolev Bluvstein, a Ph.D. student in Lukin's lab, was first author on the paper. (Image: Jon
Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer)
24
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" I think this is one of the moments in
which it is clear that something very special
is coming, " Lukin said. " Although
there are still challenges ahead, we expect
that this new advance will greatly
accelerate the progress toward largescale,
useful quantum computers. "
Denise Caldwell of the National Science
Foundation agrees. " This breakthrough is
a tour de force of quantum engineering
and design, " said Caldwell, acting Assistant
Director of the Mathematical and Physical
Sciences Directorate, which supported the
Tech Briefs, February 2024

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Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2024

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