TechXplore February 4, 2021 Satellites and space vehicles will need to pack more cargo for the long haul. However, certain items, like dish antennas used for wireless communication, pose a challenge since they cannot be very densely packed for flight because of their signature bowl shape. A team of researchers in the US (Texas A&M University, Pennsylvania State University, UC Irvine) has designed, fabricated, and characterized a self-foldable Active Origami Reflector Antenna (AORA) of parabolic form. They used shape memory polymer (SMP) composites and applied origami principles for smooth folds to determine the shape and fold pattern of a planar […]
Author Archives: Hema Viswanath
Researchers create novel photonic chip
Phys.org February 2, 2021 Photonic Digital‐to‐analog converters (DAC) enable a seamless signal conversion with respect to both energy efficiency and short signal delay. Using a silicon photonic chip platform, a team of researchers (Washington University, UCLA) has developed a coherent parallel photonic DAC concept along with a 4‐bit prototype capable of performing as DAC without optic–electric–optic domain crossing. This guarantees a linear intensity weighting among bits when operating at high sampling rates (50 GHz), featuring an exceptional sampling efficiency (> 100 GS −1 ) and small footprint (≈1 mm2) in an 8‐bit implementation. The photonic DAC enables seamless interfaces of next‐generation data processing hardware […]
Researchers demonstrate the potential of a new quantum material for creating two spintronic technologies
Phys.org February 3, 2021 Finding materials with the exact characteristics necessary to fabricate Antiferromagnetic (AFM) spintronics has so far proved to be highly challenging. An international team of researchers (USA – UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, UCLA, Israel) has identified a new quantum material (Fe1/3 + δNbS2) that could be used to fabricate AFM spintronic devices. They demonstrated that antiferromagnetic switching in the intercalated transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD)-based compounds have a huge ‘exchange bias’, single-pulse saturation and a significantly lower activation energy. They showed that the coexistence of spin glass and antiferromagnetic order allows a […]
Researchers design next-generation photodetector
EurekAlert February 2, 2021 State-of-the-art LWIR detection technology still suffers from shortcomings such as low photocurrent gain and excess spectral noise. Researchers at Northwestern University used a new approach to design the photodetector using a type-II superlattice, a material system known for its outstanding growth uniformity and exceptional band structure engineering and applied the new material to a heterojunction phototransistor device structure. During testing each part of the photodetector was tuned to use the phototransistor to achieve high optical gain, low noise, and high detectivity. The material’s flexibility allowed for meticulous quantum mechanics-based band structure engineering for the heterostructure design, […]
Researchers from NUS create ‘whirling’ nano-structures in anti-ferromagnets
EurekAlert February 4, 2021 Special magnetic nano-patterns in anti-ferromagnets that are shaped as whirls or vortices would be quite useful, as they are very stable structures and can potentially be moved along magnetic ‘race tracks’ at speeds of a few kilometres per second. To realize anti-ferromagnetic whirls an international team of researchers (Singapore, UK, USA – University of Wisconsin) combined high-quality film synthesis from materials engineering, phase transitions from physics and topology from mathematics. To grow these materials they fired a laser at iron-oxide. By using ultra-short pulses of laser, they created a hot vapour of atomic particles that formed […]
Terahertz accelerates beyond 5G towards 6G
TechXplore February 1, 2021 Researchers in Japan configured a two-channel terahertz transmitter (Tx) by modulating the output of a laser pair with wavelengths in the 1.55-micron band, which was set so that the frequency difference was in the 300-GHz band, with an 8K video signal source using an intensity modulator and converting it into terahertz waves using an ultrafast photodiode. After the wirelessly transmitted terahertz waves were detected by sensitive terahertz coherent receivers (Rxs) using resonant tunnel diodes (RTDs) they were split from the two channels into four channels and connected to an 8K monitor via HDMI cable. Using this […]
US Must Unify Atmospheric Biology Research or Risk National Security
Global Biodefence January 30, 2021 According to a team of researchers in the US (American University, NASA Ames Research Center) due to its interdisciplinary dependencies and broadness of scales from nanometers to kilometers, atmospheric biology research is highly fragmented in the U.S. science community. It lacks shared paradigms and common vocabulary. This deficit calls for recognizing atmospheric biology as a research community, thereby linking human health to climate change. While it makes sense for each department or agency to carry out research relevant to its responsibilities and interests, the lack of coordination and information-sharing can effectively cripple the U.S. response […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of January 27, 2021Â
01. Optimal information about the invisible 02. Adding or subtracting single quanta of sound 03. “Liquid” machine-learning system adapts to changing conditions 04. Long-distance and secure quantum key distribution (QKD) over a free-space channel 05. Record-breaking laser link could help us test whether Einstein was right 06. Researchers achieve extreme-ultraviolet spectral compression by four-wave mixing 07. Researchers construct molecular nanofibers that are stronger than steel 08. Defects may help scientists understand the exotic physics of topology 09. Rapid Identification of Ricin in Serum Samples Using LC–MS/MS 10. Solar material can ‘self-heal’ imperfections, new research shows And others… Audio long-read: Push, […]
Adding or subtracting single quanta of sound
Science Daily January 25, 2021 An international team of researchers (UK, Denmark, Australia) injected laser light into a crystalline microresonator that supports both the light and the high-frequency sound waves. The two types of waves coupled to one another via an electromagnetic interaction creates light at a new frequency. To subtract a single phonon, the team detected a single photon that has been up shifted in frequency. Detecting a single photon indicates that a subtracted single phonon. When the experiment is performed at a finite temperature, the sound field has random fluctuations from thermal noise. Counterintuitively, when you subtract a […]
Audio long-read: Push, pull and squeeze – the hidden forces that shape life (podcast)
Nature Podcast January 28, 2021 Researchers are probing the subtle physical forces that sculpt cells and bodies. At every stage of life, from embryo to adulthood, physical forces tug and squeeze at bodies from within. These forces are vital, ensuring that cells are correctly positioned in a developing embryo. But they also play a role in diseases like cancer. Yet despite their importance, relatively little is known about how cells sense, respond to and generate these forces. To find out, researchers have turned to bespoke tools and methods, using them to probe lab-cultured cells and whole animals to get to […]