Science Daily August 30, 2021 An international team of researchers (Japan, USA – University of Michigan) has shown that multimode quasistatic cavity resonance can provide room-scale wireless power transfer. The approach uses multidirectional, widely distributed currents on conductive surfaces that are placed around the target volume. It generates multiple, mutually unique, three-dimensional magnetic field patterns. They demonstrated the technology in a purpose-built aluminum test room measuring approximately 10 feet by 10 feet. They wirelessly powered lamps, fans and cell phones that could draw current from anywhere in the room regardless of the placement of people and furniture. Devices harness the […]
China wants to build a spaceship that’s kilometers long
Phys.org September 1, 2021 Among the many proposals the country’s leaders are considering for its latest five-year plan, one involved creating an ultra-large spacecraft spanning kilometers. According to the project outline the spacecraft elements will be built on Earth and then launched individually to orbit to be assembled in space. They specify that this spacecraft will be a major strategic aerospace equipment for the future use of space resources, exploration of the mysteries of the universe and staying in long-term. There is a great deal of skepticism about this proposal. It would take an enormous number of launches to deploy […]
Discovery of two-phase superconductivity in CeRh2As2
Science Daily August 26, 2021 Although tens of unconventional superconductors have been discovered in the past half century, there was good thermodynamic evidence of more than one superconducting phase in only one or two materials. An international team of researchers (Germany, New Zealand, UK) used thermodynamic probes to establish two-phase superconductivity in CeRh2As2. Both materials have the highest critical magnetic field to superconducting transition temperature ratio of any known superconductor. The findings can be expected to generate entirely new research directions…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Exploring quantum correlations of classical light source for image transmission
Phys.org August 31, 2021 Researchers in China formulated a density matrix to fully describe two-photon state within a thermal light source in the photon orbital angular momentum (OAM) Hilbert space. They proved the separability, i.e., zero entanglement of the thermal two-photon state. Still, they revealed the hidden quantum correlations in terms of geometric measures of discord. By mimicking the original protocol of quantum teleportation, they demonstrated that the non-zero quantum discord can be utilized to transmit a high-dimensional OAM state at the single-photon level. It was found that the information of all parameters that characterize the original state can still […]
Light-induced shape shifting of MXenes
Phys.org September 1, 2021 MXenes are two-dimensional sheets of transition metal carbides or nitrides in the form of few-atom-thick single layers. An international team of researchers (Germany, Switzerland) has found a new way to enhance the properties of MXenes by shining fast light pulses on them. Using ultrafast electron microscopy with atomic spatial resolution they showed that the laser energy transfers to the atomic lattice in a record-breaking time of merely 230 femtoseconds. They also found that femtosecond laser light can be used to switch back and forth between the originally flat surface structure of the MXene and a nano-wave […]
Nanoscale systems for generating various forms of light
Science Daily August 30, 2021 Stimulated by experimental work in the possibility of preserving nonclassical correlations in light-matter interactions mediated by scattering of photons and plasmons, it has been assumed that similar dynamics underlie the conservation of the quantum fluctuations that define the nature of light sources. An international team of researchers (Usa – State University of Louisiana, University of Alabama, Mexico) demonstrated that the quantum statistics of multiparticle systems are not always preserved in plasmonic platforms and report the observation of their modification. They showed that optical near fields provide additional scattering paths that can induce complex multiparticle interactions. […]
New approach creates an exceptional single-atom catalyst for water splitting
Phys.org September 1, 2021 Electrolysis could produce fuels and chemical feedstocks more sustainably and reduce the use of fossil fuels. But the sluggish pace of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has been a bottleneck to improving its efficiency. A team of researchers in the US (Stanford University SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Berkeley, NIST) used operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements to demonstrate that the origin of water oxidation activity of IrNiFe SACs is the presence of highly oxidized Ir single atom in the NiFe oxyhydroxide under operating conditions. They showed that the optimal water oxidation catalyst could […]
New family of ferroelectric materials raises possibilities for improved information and energy storage
Phys.org August 31, 2021 Researchers at Pennsylvania State University used magnesium-substituted zinc oxide thin films to make tiny capacitors. They could set their polarization orientation so that their surface charge is either plus or minus. The setting is nonvolatile. This type of storage requires no additional energy. The magnesium-substituted zinc oxide thin films can be deposited at much lower temperatures than other ferroelectric materials. Substrate temperature can be lowered to ambient conditions, and when doing so, capacitor stacks show only minor sacrifices to crystal orientation and nearly identical remanent polarization values; however, coercive fields drop below 2 MV/cm. This ability could […]
Novel physics gives rise to the highest coherence for microscopic lasers
Phys.org August 27, 2021 Despite considerable progress in microscale and nanoscale lasers the coherence length remains very limited. Researchers in Denmark explored the physics and applications of a new class of photonic devices using Fano interference which operates in bound-state-in the-continuum, induced by the Fano resonance. They showed experimentally as well as theoretically that the characteristics of such a bound-state-in-the-continuum can be harnessed to improve the coherence of the laser. They developed an advanced nanotechnology platform, called Buried Heterostructure Technology which allows realizing small, nanometer-sized regions of active material, where the light generation takes place, while the remaining laser structure […]
Physicists Have Successfully Advanced a Key Device For Producing Fusion Power
Science Alert September 2, 2021 An international team of researchers (Germany, Belgium, Spain, USA – Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, MIT, University of Wisconsin, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Auburn University, University of Maryland, Los alamos National Laboratory, Hungary, Australia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, France, Russia, Poland, Japan, Austria, Ukraine, Finland, UK) sought to shape the magnets in W7-X to try and reduce the effects of neoclassical transport. Measurements, taken using an instrument called an X-ray imaging crystal spectrometer (XICS), have shown very high temperatures inside the reactor. These are supported by charge exchange recombination spectroscopy (CXRS) measurements. With both data […]