A research team led by ECE professors Amr Helmy and Ravi Adve will further their work advancing quantum sensor technology, thanks to a funding boost from the federal government.
The research team — which includes professors from the University of Alberta, Carleton University, McMaster University, the University of Waterloo — was awarded funding for four years from Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND) under its Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program. IDEaS invests in research and technology aimed at meeting the demands of today’s complex global defence and security environment and is helping turn innovative thinking into tangible solutions for the DND and the Canadian Armed Forces, as well as Canadians.
Helmy, Adve and their colleagues will focus on developing quantum sensors that can more accurately determine geolocation compared to current sensors. Their work could improve situational awareness for times when the Global Positioning System (GPS) is unavailable, spotty or not to be trusted.
“GPS does not function in all latitudes,” says Helmy. “If a ship is going from the east coast of Canada to the west through the north, it won’t have GPS, which by design covers a strip of earth plus or minus 64 degrees.
“And in certain places around the globe, the GPS signal can be jammed or, potentially, spoofed to deliberately try and convince someone they’re somewhere they’re not.”
Unlike GPS, which uses signals from orbiting satellites, other sensor technologies can derive geolocation without external references. Accelerometers, gyroscopes and other motion-sensing devices make up inertial navigation systems (INS), which measure the acceleration and angular velocity of a moving object to derive a position based on knowledge of its starting point.
INS is often used in addition to GPS to help pin an object back to the grid. The two methods work together for more efficiency and accuracy — much like your phone asking you to turn on your Wi-Fi along with your cell signal so it can triangulate your location using wireless access points around you.
Today’s highly sophisticated INS use interferometry, the interference of waves of light, to obtain measurements calibrated at the nanoscale. But this technique has reached operational limits as dictated by quantum law.
“What we’re trying to do is push beyond the standard quantum limit for many kinds of interferometric measurements, for more sensitive, better performing sensors than the ones afforded to us by classical effects,” says Helmy.
The problem with classical sensors is noise, the random movement of photons and random phase drift that every beam of light contains. To overcome this, the team will exploit a quantum phenomenon called squeezed light, which takes advantage of a quantum law that allows for more certain measurements of one feature of a particle at the expense of another feature.
The idea is to measure the photon more precisely in the variable that’s most helpful.
“We can remove the noise from one degree of measurement and throw it in the other degree of freedom,” Helmy says. “We’re essentially consolidating the certainty in the measurement that’s important to us and achieving a quieter beam.”
This research angle is one of many in the project.
“Outside our work on squeezed light at U of T, the project includes a formidable team working on other topics, such as magnetometry, as well as machine learning approaches to enhance sensor utilization for situational awareness, among others.”
Helmy sees the project belonging to a ground swell of quantum applications currently being explored by engineers.
“The bulk of the work done so far in extracting the potential from quantum effects has been carried out in physics departments,” he says. “But engineering departments use quantum in conjunction with a different set of principles and metrics to make it viable and portable — to get quantum out of the lab and into the field.”
For instance, Helmy can picture a future where the optical advances behind quantum sensor technology find applications in structural imaging, such as scanning for stresses in the fibre body of an airplane or bioimaging.
“Within ten years I can easily imagine such optical tech in your ophthalmologist’s office,” he says. “Such devices operate on a very low light level and would be ideal for sensitive cells, such as those in our eye and brain, or other in vivo imaging.”
Many at U of T Engineering are excited by the potential applications this work could uncover.
“Professors Helmy and Adve are among a growing group of researchers in ECE successfully pushing the boundaries of quantum technologies to enable a wave of new applications for society,” says Professor Deepa Kundur, chair of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. “Electrical engineering know-how is a critical element when merging cutting-edge quantum science with engineering design, and I have no doubt that this project will lead to many novel advances.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
