Nanowerk October 21, 2020 The ironclad beetle is one formidable insect which has an exoskeleton that is one of the toughest, most crush-resistant structures known to exist in the biological world. An international team of researchers (USA – UC Riverside, Purdue University, UT San Antonio, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Irvine, Japan) used advanced microscopy, spectroscopy and in situ mechanical testing, and identified multiscale architectural designs within the exoskeleton of the beetle, and examined the resulting mechanical response and toughening mechanisms. They highlighted a series of interdigitated sutures, the ellipsoidal geometry and laminated microstructure which provide mechanical interlocking and toughening […]
Optical wiring for large quantum computers
Phy.org October 22, 2020 The fundamental qualities of individual trapped-ion qubits are promising for long-term systems, but the optics involved in their precise control are a barrier to scaling. Researchers in Switzerland used scalable optics co-fabricated with a surface-electrode ion trap to achieve high-fidelity multi-ion quantum logic gates, which are often the limiting elements in building up the precise, large-scale entanglement that is essential to quantum computation. Light is efficiently delivered to a trap chip in a cryogenic environment via direct fibre coupling on multiple channels, eliminating the need for beam alignment into vacuum systems and cryostats and lending robustness […]
Researchers discover a uniquely quantum effect in erasing information
EurekAlert October 16, 2020 Where computing protocols are concerned, finite-time processing in the quantum regime can dynamically generate coherence. An international team of researchers (UK, Ireland) has shown that this can have significant thermodynamic implications. They demonstrated that quantum coherence generated in the energy eigen basis of a system undergoing a finite-time information erasure protocol yields rare events with extreme dissipation. These fluctuations are of purely quantum origin. By studying the full statistics of the dissipated heat in the slow-driving limit, they proved that coherence provides a non-negative contribution to all statistical cumulants. Even a single bit erasure events yield […]
A trillion turns of light nets terahertz polarized bytes
Phys.org October 19, 2020 Ultrafast nanophotonics is an emerging research field aimed at the development of nanodevices capable of light modulation with unprecedented speed. An international team of researchers (Italy, USA – Rice University) demonstrated that the inhomogeneous spacetime distribution of photogenerated hot carriers induces a transient symmetry breaking in a highly symmetric plasmonic metasurface. The process is fully reversible and results in a broadband transient dichroism with a recovery of the initial isotropic state in less than 1 ps, overcoming the speed bottleneck caused by slower (electron–phonon and phonon–phonon) relaxation processes. Their results pave the way to ultrafast dichroic devices […]
Turning streetwear into solar power plants
Nanowerk October 22, 2020 Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) absorb diffusive light and increase the cost-effectiveness of solar cells; however, the compatibility with flexible photovoltaics and the energy transfer (ET) efficiency still require improvement. Researchers in Switzerland used amphiphilic polymer conetworks (APCNs) as polymer matrices for wearable LSCs owing to their flexibility and wearability. Furthermore, with the assistance of APCNs’ nanophase separated hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains, hydrophobic and hydrophilic luminescent materials were loaded in adjacent nanometer-separated domains. This resulted in high ET rates and broadened the acceptor’s absorption range, rendering a more efficient down conversion emission. The re-emitted photons indicated that […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of October 16, 2020
01. Easy-to-make, ultra-low power electronics could charge out of thin air 02. Liquid metals come to the rescue of semiconductors 03. A milestone in quantum physics: Physicists successfully carry out the controlled transport of stored light 04. An 11-atom sensor sheds light on the quantum world 05. Scientists develop ‘mini-brains’ to help robots recognize pain and to self-repair 06. Well-formed disorder for versatile light technologies 07. Room-temperature superconductor? Rochester lab sets new record toward long-sought goal 08. Geologists solve puzzle that could predict valuable rare earth element deposits 09. The current state of space debris 10. Now you see it, […]
An 11-atom sensor sheds light on the quantum world
Nanowerk October 14, 2020 Researchers in the Netherlands developed a device composed of individual Fe atoms that allows for remote detection of spin dynamics. They have characterized the device and used it to detect the presence of spin waves originating from an excitation induced by the scanning tunneling microscope tip several nanometres away; this may be extended to much longer distances. The device contains a memory element that can be consulted seconds after detection, similar in functionality to e.g. a single photon detector. They performed statistical analysis of the responsiveness to remote spin excitations and corroborated the results using basic […]
Atmospheric dust levels are rising in the Great Plains
Science Daily October 13, 2020 In the 1920s Midwestern farmers had converted vast tracts of grassland into farmland using mechanical plows. When the crops failed in the drought the open areas of land that used to be covered by grass, which held soil tightly in place, were now bare dirt, vulnerable to wind erosion. In a study covering years from 1988 to 2018 a team of researchers in the US (University of Utah, University of Colorado) found that atmospheric dust levels are rising across the Great Plains at a rate of up to 5% per year. The trend of rising […]
Chemists create new crystal form of insecticide, boosting its ability to fight mosquitoes and malaria
Phys.org October 12, 2020 A team of researchers in the US (New York University, University of Puerto Rico) heated the commercially available form of deltamethrin to 110°C/230°F for a few minutes and let it cool to room temperature; this resulted in a new crystallized form of deltamethrin, composed of long, tiny fibers radiating from a single point. When mosquitoes step on insecticide crystals, the insecticide is absorbed through their feet and, if effective, kills the mosquitoes. In tests the new form was up to 12 times more effective against mosquitoes than the existing form. The new form also remained stable—and […]
Chilling Report Suggests 1 Out of 5 Countries Could Be Headed For Ecosystem Collapse
Science Alert October 15, 2020 The world’s wealth is built on our planet’s natural ecosystems, and if those collapse, so too might our global economy, experts warn. The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Index published by the Swiss Re Institute has found just over half of all global GDP – nearly 42 trillion US dollars – is dependent on goods and services provided by the natural world. The index was designed to give governments and businesses a benchmark for the state of local ecosystems important to their economies, in the hope that the data can help inform relevant insurance solutions for […]