2007 News Archives

Gaurav Sharma Receives Tenure

July 1, 2007

Associate Professor Gaurav Sharma received tenure on July 1, 2007. He joined the Department of ECE in Fall 2003, coming to the University of Rochester from Xerox Corporation, where he was a Principal Scientist and Project Leader. His research interests include multimedia security and watermarking, image processing, and signal processing for bioinformatics and communications. Dr. Sharma received his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University-Raleigh.

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Quantum Cryptography: Unbreakable Code under the Laws of Physics

May 3, 2007

In the January-February 2007 issue of the Journal of Modern Optics, Professor Roman Sobolewski and his team at the University of Rochester, working with Moscow, Zurich/Delft, and Warsaw groups, announced a new receiver for superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) that is especially useful for applications such as quantum cryptography and quantum communications. An SSPD is a nanostructured superconducting structure known for ultrafast, efficient detection of visible-to-infrared photons. In Professor Sobolewski's quantum cryptography system, photons with two separate polarizations (such as vertical and horizontal) can be simultaneously counted using two parallel channels. The receiver, designed for telecommunications wavelengths, is based on two fiber-coupled Niobium Nitrate (NbN) SSPDs operating at 4.2 Kelvin inside a liquid helium container. NbN is a metallic compound that operates as a superconductor when immersed in liquid helium at near absolute zero. Both the optical and electrical connections are outside the container at room temperature. Because the system operating time between helium refills is approximately two months, from a user's standpoint, the whole receiver is regarded as a "room-temperature-like" apparatus.

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Adjustable Ultrathin Nano-Filter Separates Biological Molecules

February 15, 2007

Researchers at the University of Rochester have created an ultrathin porous nanocrystalline silicon membrane that filters biological molecules. The new filter, reported in the February 15, 2007 issue of Nature, is so thin and efficient that it enables scientists to separate and retain "collections" of two sizes of molecules. The pores can be adjusted to separate molecules of most any size, to separate similarly sized molecules carrying different charges, and to transport small molecules through the membrane much faster than current methods. Possible applications of the nano-filters include renal dialysis, whereby a device can remove toxins that failing kidneys no longer cleanse from the blood; precision air filters; membrane-based chromatography systems; and microfluidic systems requiring highly efficient separations.

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