Nanowerk April 15, 2024 Metrological applications of the quantum anomalous Hall effect are currently restricted by the need for low measurement currents and low temperatures. Researchers in Germany developed a measurement scheme that increases the robustness of a zero-magnetic-field quantum anomalous Hall resistor and extends its operating range to higher currents. In the scheme, they simultaneously injected current into two disconnected perimeters of a multi-terminal Corbino device to balance the electrochemical potential between the edges. This screened the electric field that drove backscattering through the bulk and thus improved the stability of the quantization at increased currents. According to the […]
Researchers control quantum properties of 2D materials with tailored light
Phys.org April 15, 2024 The stacking and twisting of atom-thin structures with matching crystal symmetry has provided a unique way to create new superlattice structures in which new properties emerge. An international team of researchers (Germany, Spain, USA – SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University) demonstrated a tailored light-wave-driven analogue to twisted layer stacking. Tailoring the spatial symmetry of the light waveform to that of the lattice of a hexagonal boron nitride monolayer and then twisting this waveform resulted in optical control of time-reversal symmetry breaking and the realization of the topological Haldane model in a laser-dressed two-dimensional insulating crystal. […]
Study reveals giant store of global soil carbon
Phys.org April 11. 2024 Soil inorganic carbon (SIC) remain largely unquantified. A team researchers from many countries found that nearly one billion tons of inorganic carbon are lost to inland waters annually, and that future losses will reduce global SIC by 23 billion tons over the next 30 years under the current scenario. By compiling 223,593 field-based measurements and developing machine-learning models, they reported that global soils store 2305 ± 636 (±1 SD) billion tonnes of carbon as SIC over the top 2-meter depth. Under future scenarios, soil acidification associated with nitrogen additions to terrestrial ecosystems would reduce global SIC […]
‘Surprising’ hidden activity of semiconductor material spotted by researchers
Science Daily April 11, 2024 Studies of electric field-driven insulator-to-metal (IMT) in the prototypical vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin-film channel devices are largely focused on the electrical and elastic responses of the films, but the response of the corresponding Titanium dioxide (TiO2) substrate is often overlooked. An international team of researchers (USA – Pennsylvania State University, Cornell University, Argonne National Laboratory, Germany) found that in-operando spatiotemporal imaging of the coupled elastodynamics using X-ray diffraction microscopy of a VO2 film channel device on TiO2 substrate the film channel bulged during the IMT instead shrinking as expected. A micron thick proximal layer in […]
A universal path for converting light into current in solids
Phys.org April 16, 2024 Harnessing the asymmetric electronic population in the conduction band induced by an intense single-color circularly polarized laser pulse an international team of researchers (Japan, India, Germany) developed a universal method to generate ultrafast photocurrent in both inversion-symmetric and inversion-broken Weyl semimetals with degenerate Weyl nodes at the Fermi level. They found that the induced photocurrent could be tailored by manipulating helicity and ellipticity of the employed laser. Their approach generated photocurrent in realistic situations when the Weyl nodes were positioned at different energies and had finite tilt along a certain direction. According to the researchers their […]
What is happening to US higher education?
Phys.org April 11, 2024 A team of researchers in the US (Vanderbilt University, Saint Joseph’s University, Western Kentucky University, Valdosta State University, Wingate University) interpreted the destabilization in U.S. higher education using Layton’s theory of marketing systems to detail disruptions to academia’s system settings. They examined the interplay between societal, technological, competitive, and political power shifts as major disruptors reshaping higher education and examined the shifts by intertwining history with the demands of today’s evolving landscape, emphasizing the need for transformative change. They highlighted three impacted areas: governance, sentiment, and transformation. Layton’s theory provided stakeholders a starting point to make […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of April 12, 2024
01. New technique lets scientists create resistance-free electron channels 02. Could new technique for ‘curving’ light be the secret to improved wireless communication? 03. Propagating dimensions of light: Deforming versatile non-diffractive beams along the optical trajectory 04. Detecting objects without any physical interaction – reality or science fiction? 05. Magnetic levitation: New material offers potential for unlocking gravity-free technology 06. Waterproof ‘e-glove’ could help scuba divers communicate 07. The spontaneous emergence of 1D superconducting stripes at a 2D interface in an oxide heterostructure 08. Magnetic fields boost clean energy 09. New device gathers, stores electricity in remote settings 10. Old […]
This 3D printer can figure out how to print with an unknown material
Science Daily April 8, 2024 An international team of researchers (USA – MIT, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Greece) described a new method for the automatic generation of process parameters for fused filament fabrication (FFF) across varying machines and materials. They used an instrumented extruder to fit a function that maps nozzle pressures across varying flow rates and temperatures for a given machine and material configuration and developed a method to extract real parameters for flow rate and temperature using relative pressures and temperature offsets. Using their method they found process parameters, using one set of input parameters, across […]
Could new technique for ‘curving’ light be the secret to improved wireless communication?
Science Daily April 9, 2024 A key challenge in millimeter-wave and terahertz wireless networks is blockage of the line-of-sight path between a base station and a user. A team of engineers in the US (University of Missouri-Kansas City, Rice University, Brown University) proposed a solution to this problem leveraging the fact that, in such scenarios, users are likely to be located within the electromagnetic near field of the base station, which opens the possibility to engineer wave fronts for link maintenance. They showed that curved beams, carrying data at high bit rates, could realize a link by curving around an […]
Detecting objects without any physical interaction – reality or science fiction?
Nanowerk April 5, 2024 An international team of researchers (Portugal, Brazil) analysed nonclassical resources in interference phenomena using generalized noncontextuality inequalities and basis-independent coherence witnesses. They used inequalities that witness both resources within the same framework. In view of the previous contextual advantage results, they proposed a systematic way of applying these tools to characterize advantage provided by coherence and contextuality in quantum information protocols. They used this methodology as an example for the task of quantum interrogation, introduced by the paradigmatic bomb-testing interferometric experiment, showing contextual quantum advantage for such a task… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE