MIT News May 15, 2023 Recent scientific findings suggest that sleep onset (known as N1) may be an ideal brain state for creative ideation. However, the specific link between N1 dream content and creativity has remained unclear. A team of researchers in the US (MIT, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) investigated the contribution of N1 dream content to creative performance by administering targeted dream incubation (a protocol that presents auditory cues at sleep onset to introduce specific themes into dreams) and collected dream reports to measure incorporation of the selected theme into dream content. They assessed creative performance using a […]
New sensors with the HOTS for extreme missions
DARPA News May 12, 2023 The performance of many of the defense and industrial systems that rely on sensors experience harsh environments beyond the capability of today’s high-performance physical sensors, they are limited by the uncertainty of their thermal environments. Today, sensors that can withstand thermally harsh conditions are limited to low-sensitivity transducers located in hot zones coupled via noisy electrical connections to remote, temperature-constrained, silicon signal-conditioning microelectronics in cold zones. The resulting integrated sensors lack the combination of frequency bandwidth and dynamic range essential for high-temperature missions. If we can design, integrate, and demonstrate high-performance physical sensors that can […]
New technology developed for quantum cryptography applications
Phys.org May 10, 2023 Temporal modes (TMs), an encoding basis based on the time-frequency degree of freedom of photons, represent one of the most promising high-dimensional alphabets. TM-based quantum communication has until now been limited to a two-dimensional space due to the lack of a suitable decoder. However, quantum communication protocols based on single-photon TMs require suitable multichannel decoders. Researchers in Germany have demonstrated a new device that facilitates demultiplexing of high-dimensional TMs of single photons, and implemented a complete five-dimensional decoder that enables TM-based high-dimensional quantum key distribution. They showed that it is possible to scale the presented decoder […]
Proposed perovskite-based device combines aspects of electronics and photonics
Phys.org May 12, 2023 Hybrid perovskites have emerged as a promising material candidate for exciton-polariton (polariton) optoelectronics. Many applications demand precise control of polariton interactions. Thus far, the primary mechanisms by which polaritons relax in perovskites remain unclear. An international team of researchers (USA – MIT, Spain, Italy) sandwiched perovskite in between two precisely spaced reflective surfaces and stimulated them with laser beams. Then they were able to directly control the momentum of exciton-polariton pairs. The combined sate could be perturbed either with light or charge in a more energy-efficient manner. Halide perovskites harvest light well, and turn photons into […]
Quantum random number generator operates securely and independently of source devices
Phys.org May 17, 2023 Quantum random number generators (QRNGs) can provide genuine randomness by exploiting the intrinsic probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics. However, the true randomness acquisition could be subjected to attacks from untrusted devices involved or their deviations from the theoretical modeling in real-life implementation. Researchers in China proposed and experimentally demonstrated a source-device-independent QRNG, which enabled accessing true random bits with an untrusted source device. The random bits were generated by measuring the arrival time of either photon of the time–energy entangled photon pairs produced from spontaneous parametric downconversion, where the entanglement was testified through the observation of […]
Replication of room-temperature superconductor claims fails to show superconductivity
Phys.org May 17, 2023 Researchers in China attempting to replicate the superconductivity results from an experiment conducted by a team at the University of Rochester (UoR) doping a lutetium-hydrogen chemical with nitrogen. The team in China found that the process did lead to the formation of a compound that at first glance appeared to be identical to that created by the team at UoR. A closer look using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy showed its structure, a hydrogen-lutetium-nitrogen compound, that looked nearly identical to the UoR compound. The Chinese team even found the same color changes reported by the UoR team […]
Researchers demonstrate high natural radioactivity of manganese nodules
Phys.org May 17, 2023 In search for critical elements, polymetallic nodules at the deep abyssal seafloor are targeted for mining operations. Nodules efficiently scavenge and retain several naturally occurring uranium-series radioisotopes, which predominantly emit alpha radiation during decay. Researchers in Germany have presented new data on the activity concentrations of thorium-230, radium-226, and protactinium-231, as well as on the release of radon-222 in and from nodules from the NE Pacific Ocean. They demonstrated that the activity concentrations for several alpha emitters were often higher than at the surface of the nodules. The observed values could exceed current exemption levels by […]
Researchers use structured light on a chip in another photonics breakthrough
Phys.org May 17, 2023 Despite recent demonstrations of various topological photonic phases, the full potential offered by Dirac photonic systems, specifically their ability to emulate the spin degree of freedom—referred to as pseudo-spin—beyond topological boundary modes has remained underexplored. An international team of researcher (USA – City College of New York, AFRL (Eglin AFB), Australia) showed an example of relativistic-like trapping in photonic system that realizes Dirac-like dispersion with spatially inhomogeneous mass term. The modes trapped by such cavities, their energy levels, and corresponding orbitals were characterized through optical imaging in real and momentum space. The fabricated cavities hosted a […]
Using nanofaceting to manipulate quantum dots into nanocrystals
Phys.org May 17, 2023 Colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) have shown remarkable promise for optoelectronics, energy harvesting, photonics, and biomedical imaging. In addition to optimizing quantum confinement, the current challenge is to obtain a better understanding of the critical processing steps and their influence on the evolution of structural motifs. Through computational simulations and electron microscopy an international team of researchers (UK, France, South Korea, China) has shown that nanofaceting can occur during nanocrystal synthesis from a Pb-poor environment in a polar solvent. This could explain the curved interfaces and the olivelike-shaped NCs observed experimentally when these conditions were employed. Furthermore, the […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of May 12, 2023
01. A blueprint for a quantum computer in reverse gear 02. DNA data storage within reach thanks to new PCR technique 03. The exciting possibilities of tiny, twisted superconductors 04. Leaky-wave metasurfaces: A perfect interface between free-space and integrated optical systems 05. Magnetic bacteria: Microorganisms can help to extract dangerous heavy metals from wastewater 06. New catalyst transforms carbon dioxide into sustainable byproduct 07. Physicists discover ‘stacked pancakes of liquid magnetism’ 08. Scientists find link between photosynthesis and ‘fifth state of matter’ 09. Supercomputers have revealed the giant ‘pillars of heat’ funneling diamonds upward from deep within Earth 10. Training […]