Phys.org May 6, 2021 A team of researchers in South Korea demonstrated laser intensity exceeding 1023W/cm2 with the CoReLS petawatt (PW) laser. After wavefront correction and tight focusing with a two-stage adaptive optical system and an f/1.1 (=300mm) off-axis parabolic mirror, they obtained near diffraction-limited focusing with a spot size of 1.1 µm (FWHM). From the measurement of 80 consecutive laser shots at 0.1 Hz, they achieved a peak intensity of (1.1±0.2)×1023W/cm2, verifying the applicability of the ultrahigh intensity PW laser for ultrahigh intensity laser–matter interactions. From the statistical analysis of the PW laser shots, they identified that the intensity […]
Superconductivity, high critical temperature found in 2D semimetal tungsten nitride
Phys.org May 5, 2021 Researchers in Switzerland used first-principles calculations to identify intrinsic superconductivity in monolayer W2N3, a material that has recently been identified as being easily exfoliable from a layered hexagonal-W2N3 bulk by calculations, a theory also supported by experimental evidence. They found a critical temperature of 21 K, that is, just above liquid hydrogen and a record-high transition temperature for a conventional phonon-mediated 2D superconductor. According to the researchers the material could be doped such that currently unoccupied helical edge states 0.5 eV above the Fermi level become filled, even while superconductivity persists making W2N3 a viable candidate […]
Thin, large-area device converts infrared light into images
EurekAlert May 5, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – UC San Diego, University of Southern Mississippi, South Korea) has developed an organic upconversion imager that is efficient in both optical and electronic readouts, extending the capability of human and machine vision to 1400 nm. The imager structure incorporates interfacial layers to suppress non‐radiative recombination and provide enhanced optical upconversion efficiency and electronic detectivity. The photo response is comparable to state‐of‐the‐art organic infrared photodiodes exhibiting a high external quantum efficiency of ≤35% at a low bias of ≤3 V and 3 dB bandwidth of 10 kHz. With a large […]
An uncrackable combination of invisible ink and artificial intelligence
Phys.org May 5, 2021 Even as electronic records advance, paper is still a common way to preserve data. Researchers in China have developed a paper information protection scheme by combining fluorescent invisible ink and artificial intelligence. The ink was prepared by dissolving carbon nanoparticles in water, which has a high quantum yield and outstanding light stability and salt stability, thus ensures the integrity of information in complex environments. A neural network was specially trained based on ultraviolet light excited symbols printed by invisible ink. Using this scheme, the correct information could only be read with the specially trained neural network […]
UVA engineering computer scientists discover new vulnerability affecting computers globally
EurekAlert April 30, 2021 In 2018, industry and academic researchers revealed a potentially devastating hardware flaw, they called Spectre, which was built into modern computer processors that get their speed from a technique called “speculative execution”. A Spectre attack tricks the processor into executing instructions along the wrong path. Even though the processor recovers and correctly completes its task, hackers can access confidential data while the processor is heading the wrong way. Researchers at the University of Virginia has uncovered a line of attack that breaks all Spectre defenses, meaning that billions of computers and other devices across the globe […]
With a zap of light, system switches objects’ colors and patterns
MIT News May 4, 2021 Researchers at MIT have developed a way to rapidly update imagery on object surfaces. The system, dubbed “ChromoUpdate” pairs UV light projector with items coated in light-activated dye. The projected light alters the reflective properties of the dye, creating colorful new images in just a few minutes. ChromoUpdate is a texture transfer system for fast design iteration. For the early stages of design, it provides a fast grayscale preview that enables a texture to be transferred in under one minute. Once designers are satisfied with the grayscale texture ChromoUpdate supports designers in coloring the texture by […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of April 30, 2021
01. Steering light to places it isn’t supposed to go 02. Scientists harness molecules into single quantum state 03. Lightning and subvisible discharges produce molecules that clean the atmosphere 04. Nature provides inspiration for breakthrough in self-regulating materials 05. New 2D superconductor forms at higher temperatures than ever before 06. A two-qubit engine powered by entanglement and local measurements 07. Ion beams mean a quantum leap for color-center qubits 08. New two-dimensional material 09. 60-Year Scientific Mystery About DNA Replication Solved 10. A more efficient, safer alternative to sourcing copper via bacteria And others… Climate has shifted the axis of […]
60-Year Scientific Mystery About DNA Replication Solved
SciTech Daily April 25, 2021 Previously an international team of researchers (USA – Florida State University, Emory University, University of Georgia, University of Illinois, Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, UK, Japan, Hong Kong) showed that each type of cell had a unique replication timing program and that diseased cells had distinct alterations in the program. In the current study, the team looked at how changes in the replication timing program impact the epigenome. They found that by eliminating a protein called RIF1, that helps to regulate DNA replication, the replication program was severely and sometimes, almost completely gone so that all […]
Climate has shifted the axis of the Earth, study finds
Science Daily April 25, 2021 Generally, polar motion is caused by changes in the hydrosphere, atmosphere, oceans, or solid Earth. However, short‐term observational records of key information in the hydrosphere limit a better understanding of new polar drift in the 1990s. An international team of researchers (China, Denmark) has introduced a novel approach to quantify the contribution from changes in terrestrial water storage by comparing its drift path under two different scenarios. One scenario assumes that the terrestrial water storage change throughout the entire study period (1981–2020) is similar to that observed recently (2002–2020). The second scenario assumes that it […]
Explaining electric fields in sandstorms
Phys.org April 27, 2021 Sandstorms can generate high-magnitude electrical fields capable of disrupting communication equipment. Recent studies have shown that sand can pick up static electricity through collisions that take place near the ground. To resolve the motion of sand particles researchers in Saudi Arabia created a large-eddy simulation, where the tiny fluctuations get smoothed over and only large ones remain. They modeled the turbulent eddies of sandstorms inside a virtual box that stretches from ground level to kilometer-scale heights in the atmosphere. The sandstorm’s strength was controlled with an algorithm that introduced different densities of charged particles into the […]