01. Scientists produce a quantum state that is part light and part matter 02. Error-prone quantum bits could correct themselves, physicists show 03. New transistor design disguises key computer chip hardware from hackers 04. Researchers control multiple wavelengths of light from a single source 05. Electrical spin filtering the key to ultra-fast, energy-efficient spintronics 06. Smellicopter: An obstacle-avoiding drone that uses a live moth antenna to seek out smells 07. Researchers developed a sequence analysis pipeline for virus discovery 08. Finetuning ‘twistronics’ of 2D crystals 09. Research develops new theoretical approach to manipulate light 10. Researchers achieve quantum advantage And […]
Breakthrough optical sensor mimics human eye, a key step toward better AI
Science Daily December 8, 2020 Neuromorphic processors are still designed for traditional computer architectures. Researchers at the State University of Oregon have shown that a simple photosensitive capacitor will inherently reproduce certain aspects of biological retinas. They found that capacitors based on metal halide perovskites will output a brief voltage spike in response to changes in incident light intensity but output zero voltage under constant illumination. The new sensor could be a perfect match for the neuromorphic computers that will power the next generation of artificial intelligence in applications like self-driving cars, robotics, and advanced image recognition…read more. Open Access […]
Electrical spin filtering the key to ultra-fast, energy-efficient spintronics
Science Daily December 4, 2020 All-electrical generation of spin has already been successfully demonstrated. However, detection of spin-to-charge conversion has always required a large range of magnetic fields, thus limiting the speed and practicality. An international team of researchers (Australia, Switzerland, Japan, Slovenia, UK, Singapore) introduces a new method for detecting spin accumulation using a spin filter, which separates different spin orientations based on their energies. They demonstrated a general method that exploits the nonlinear interactions between spin and charge currents to perform all-electrical, rapid, and noninvasive detection of spin accumulation without the need for a magnetic field. They used […]
Error-prone quantum bits could correct themselves, physicists show
Phys.org December 9, 2020 One of the chief obstacles facing quantum computer designers is correcting the errors that creep into a processor’s calculations. A team of researchers in the US (NIST, University of Maryland, Caltech) is experimenting with a photonic cavity resonator into which multiple photons can be driven to bounce back and forth between the cavity’s reflective walls. The photons combine to form ripple-like interference patterns. The patterns themselves contain the qubit’s information. Rather than construct an elaborate system to detect, measure and compensate for noise and errors, the team members perceived that if the supply of photons in […]
Finetuning ‘twistronics’ of 2D crystals
Nanowerk December 4, 2020 Twistronics, tuning of twist angle controls the topology and electron interactions in 2D materials, is a rising research topic in physics in recent years. An international team of researchers (UK, China, Japan, Singapore) has developed a technique enabling twisted van der Waals heterostructures with dynamically tunable optical, mechanical, and electronic properties. Using this technique, they fabricated heterostructures where graphene is perfectly aligned with both top and bottom encapsulating layers of hexagonal boron nitride. The technique could be used in autonomous robotic manipulation of two-dimensional crystals to build van der Waals superlattices, which would allow accurate positioning, […]
The natural ‘Himalayan aerosol factory’ can affect climate
Science Daily December 7, 2020 Pre-industrial aerosol concentration and composition particles formed directly in the atmosphere from gaseous precursors, constitutes a large uncertainty in the anthropogenic radiative forcing. From their observations taken at the remote Nepal Climate Observatory Pyramid station at 5,079 m above sea level an international team of researchers (Finland, Italy, Switzerland, France, Estonia, USA – industry) shows that up-valley winds funnel gaseous aerosol precursors to higher altitudes. During this transport, these are oxidized into compounds of very low volatility, which rapidly form many aerosol particles. These are transported into the free troposphere, suggesting that the whole Himalayan region […]
New transistor design disguises key computer chip hardware from hackers
TechXplore.com December 7, 2020 When a voltage is applied an N type and a P type transistors perform computations. Right tools could clearly identify them—allowing you to go backwards, find out what each individual circuit component is doing and then reproduce the chip. A team of researchers in the US (Purdue University, University of Notre Dame) has shown that high-performance, low-voltage, two-dimensional black phosphorus FETs that have reconfigurable polarities are suitable for hardware security applications. Black phosphorus is so thin that it would enable electron and hole transport at a similar current level, making the two types of transistors appear […]
Nobel Prize ceremonies go virtual for Doudna, Genzel
UC Berkeley December 8, 2020 For the first time since World War II, winners of this year’s Nobel Prizes will not be receiving their medals and diplomas from the King of Sweden in Stockholm. The pandemic has forced the Nobel Committees to deliver the medals to recipients at their homes, with just immediate family and consular or embassy officials in attendance. The downside is that winners and their families and colleagues will forego the pomp and ceremony, including concerts and a banquet — the dress code is white tie and tails for men, evening gowns for women — that have […]
Our Sun Has Entered a New Cycle, And It Could Be One of The Strongest Ever Recorded
Science Alert December 8, 2020 According to an international team of researchers (USA – NCAR, University of Maryland, UK) over the course of about 20 years or so, flickers of extreme ultraviolet light called coronal bright points seem to move from the poles towards the equator, meeting in the middle and cancelling out, referred to as terminator. At this point the new cycle begins. From the 270-year long observational record of terminator events, they see that the longer the time between terminators, the weaker the next cycle and conversely, the shorter the time between terminators, the stronger the next solar […]
Research develops new theoretical approach to manipulate light
EurekAlert December 8, 2020 Researchers in the UK re-examined the refractive index and found a general way to calculate the direction-dependent refractive index and the condition for zero index in a given direction. By analogy with linear versus circular polarization, they showed that when the zero-index direction is complex-valued, a material supports waves that can propagate in only one sense, for example, clockwise. They showed that there is an infinite family of both time-reversible and time-irreversible homogeneous electromagnetic media that support unidirectional propagation for a particular polarization. The work extends the concept of the refractive index, shedding new light on […]