Science Daily March 6, 2023 Conventional phase shifters suffer from signal losses which increase as the phase angle increases, and the phase varies with frequency, causing signal degradation, impaired performance, increased power consumption, etc. Researchers in the UK have created a new type of high-performance ‘phase shifter’ using a liquid Gallium alloy, which varies the phase angle of microwave and millimetre-wave radio signals. The results of prototype testing showed that, in the new phase shifter signal losses were low, and almost independent of phase angle. It has a ‘phase compensation’ technique that provides extremely low phase deviation with frequency over […]
New research models concept for data transport using train of satellites
Phys.org February 23, 2023 A team of researchers in the US (University of Illinois, Caltech) has developed the concept of the Solar System Pony Express that aims to augment the data transmission capabilities of the Deep Space Network using the idea of data mules. Data mules as small spacecraft that can travel to a remote location, such as Mars, where they acquire data in close range to the probe’s transmitter, then carry the data back to Earth where it is downlinked in close range to the receiver. This enables high latency and high bandwidth communication. A network of interplanetary data […]
Reaching superconductivity layer by layer
Phys.org March 2, 2023 Multilayered graphene has many promising qualities ranging from widely tunable band structure and special optical properties to new forms of superconductivity. An international team of researchers (Austria, Israel) studied multilayer graphene for the possibility of creating topological superconductivity. In their theoretical model, simulated on a computer, they looked at various possible arrangements of different graphene sheets on top of each other and the behavior of electrons that move in the multiplayer graphene. Depending on how the different layers of graphene are shifted with respect to each other and on how many layers there were, the positively […]
Researchers fabricate novel flexible supercapacitors on paper
Nanowerk March 6, 2023 Paper’s inherent characteristics can be exploited to overcome the limitations of conventional substrates, such as weak adhesion and large mass densities. Researchers in South Korea proposed a method for fabricating vertically integrated multi-electrodes within only a single sheet of paper. Despite the randomly distributed fibrous networks in paper, the multi-layered electrodes were uniformly formed and completely separated by applying a removable hydrophobic wax barrier confinement inside a single sheet of paper. Conventional two-dimensional planes can be used as three-dimensional scaffolds. The highly integrated electrodes and circuit systems were located within a sheet of paper, making a […]
Researchers reveal disturbances of Tonga volcanic eruption
Phyus.org March 3, 2023 The effects of volcanic eruptions on the ionosphere have been well studied, however, evidence for the anticipated upper atmospheric neutral variations and their exact extents of change are rarely available. An international team of researchers (China, Germany, USA – MIT) found dramatic thermospheric disturbances following the 15 January 2022 Tonga eruption. The GRACE-FO and Swarm-C observations from the accelerometers exhibited three successive thermospheric density waves at ∼500 km altitudes propagating concentrically across the globe at 200–450 m/s phase speed and two of the three waves converged at the antipode of the epicenter. A large-scale and long-lasting […]
Scientists thread rows of metal atoms into nanofiber bundles
Phys.org March 6, 2023 A class of 3D atomic wires of transition metal chalcogenides (TMC) structures consisting of bundles of TMC nanofibers held together by metallic atoms in between the fibers, all forming a well-ordered lattice in its cross section are of particular interest. Depending on the choice of metal, the structure could even be made to become a superconductor. Researchers in Japan demonstrated versatile method to fabricate indium (In)-intercalated W6Te6 (In–W6Te6) bundles with a nanoscale thickness. Atomic-resolution electron microscopy revealed that In atoms were surrounded by three adjacent W6Te6 wires. First-principles calculations suggested that their wire-by-wire stacking can transform […]
Scientists push the boundaries of manipulating light at the submicroscopic level
Phys.org March 2, 2023 How tightly the light is confined determines the limits for the observability of nanoparticles, as well as the intensity and the precision of light-based devices. An international team of researchers (UK, Germany) has developed a general theory describing multi-mode light–matter coupling in systems of reduced dimensionality. The researchers explored their phenomenology, validating their theory’s predictions against numerical electromagnetic simulations. They characterized the spectral features linked with the multi-mode nature of the polaritons and showed how the interference between different photonic resonances can modify the real-space shape of the electromagnetic field associated with each polariton mode. According […]
Single-pulse real-time billion-frames-per-second planar imaging of ultrafast nanoparticle-laser dynamics
Phys.org March 6. 2023 Unburnt hydrocarbon flames produce soot which is the second biggest contributor to global warming. The state-of-the-art high-speed imaging techniques do not provide a complete picture of flame-laser interactions, important for understanding soot formation. An international team of researchers (USA – Caltech, Washington University, Sweden, Germany) has developed single-shot laser-sheet compressed ultrafast photography (LS-CUP) for billion-frames-per-second planar imaging of flame-laser dynamics. They observed laser-induced incandescence, elastic light scattering, and fluorescence of soot precursors – polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in real-time using a single nanosecond laser pulse. The spatiotemporal maps of the PAHs emission, soot temperature, primary nanoparticle […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of March 3, 2023
01. ‘Ghostly’ Glow of Entangled Light Now Reveals Hidden Objects Better Than Ever 02. Wafer-scale nanofabrication of telecom single-photon emitters in silicon 03. New design for lithium-air battery could offer much longer driving range compared with the lithium-ion battery 04. New method creates material that could create the next generation of solar cells 05. Producing extreme ultraviolet laser pulses efficiently through wakesurfing behind electron beams 06. The quantum twisting microscope: A new lens on quantum materials 07. Scientists identify new mechanism of corrosion 08. Chaos on the nanometer scale 09. Scientists twist x-rays with artificial spin crystals 10. Towards a […]
Chaos on the nanometer scale
Science Daily February 27, 2023 In compartmentalized nanosystems, the reaction behaviour may deviate from that observed on the macro- or mesoscale. In situ studies of processes in such nanosystems meet severe experimental challenges. An international team of researchers (Austria, Japan) used a rhodium nanocrystal surface consisting of different nm-sized nanofacets as a model of a compartmentalized reaction nanosystem. Using field emission microscopy, different reaction modes were observed, including a transition to spatio-temporal chaos. The transitions between different modes were caused by variations of the hydrogen pressure modifying the strength of diffusive coupling between individual nanofacets. Microkinetic simulations, performed for a […]