Nanowerk August 27, 2020 If ultrashort pulses could be directly generated in quantum cascade lasers terahertz radiation could be used for many more applications. An international team of researchers (Germany, Italy, UK) has developed a new class of saturable absorbers operating at much lower saturation intensities to change the ultrashort pulses generated in quantum cascade lasers into pulsed operation. They designed a microstructured assembly of a gold mirror and a gold grating that jointly work like a resonating body for terahertz radiation. The strong coupling between the electrons and the terahertz microcavity results in an excitation that is half electron, […]
New electronic skin can react to pain like human skin
EurekAlert September 1, 2020 An international team of researchers (Australia, Bangladesh) combined stretchable electronics, temperature-reactive coatings, and brain-mimicking memory to develop a device that can electronically replicate the way human skin senses pain. They have demonstrated the ability to detect and respond to pressure, temperature, and pain stimuli above a threshold with real‐life performance characteristics with explanation of underlying mechanisms. The research opens a way to better prosthetics, smarter robotics and non-invasive alternatives to skin grafts…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
New evidence for quantum fluctuations near a quantum critical point in a superconductor
Phys.org August 31, 2020 Quantum fluctuations associated with exotic orders may account for the unusual characteristics of the normal state, and possibly affect the superconductivity in Copper oxide high-TC superconductors. Using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering an international team of researchers (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, UK) had shown spectroscopic evidence of fluctuations associated with a charge order in nearly optimally doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ. In the superconducting state the interplay between charge order fluctuations and bond-stretching phonons increases, an observation that is incompatible with expectations for competing orders. They argue that this behaviour reflects the properties of a dissipative system near […]
Researchers manipulate two bits in one atom
Phys.org September 1, 2020 An international team of researchers (the Netherlands, Chile, Spain) has shown that it is possible to gain independent access to both the spin and orbital degrees of freedom of a single atom, inciting and probing excitations of each moment. By coordinating a single Fe atom atop the nitrogen site of the Cu2N lattice, they created a single-atom system with a large zero-field splitting and an unquenched uniaxial orbital moment that closely approaches the free-atom value. They demonstrated a full reversal of the orbital moment through a single-electron tunneling event between the tip and Fe atom, a […]
Revolutionary quantum breakthrough paves way for safer online communication
Phys.org September 2, 2020 An international team of researchers (UK, Austria, Croatia) used multiplexing which splits the light particles, emitted by a single system, so they can be received by multiple users efficiently. They designed a network for eight users using just eight receiver boxes As the user numbers grow, the logistics become increasingly unviable—for instance 100 users would take 9,900 receiver boxes. To demonstrate its functionality across distance the receiver boxes were connected to optical fibres via different locations across Bristol. The ability to transmit messages via quantum communication was tested using the city’s existing optical fibre network. The […]
Single-Molecule Cloak
American Physical Society September 3, 2020 Ordinarily the transmission of light from a laser can be cut in half when obscured by such a nanoparticle, but the molecule’s presence causes 10% more light to be transmitted. With better control of the system, the molecule-nanoparticle combination could potentially become transparent to the laser. The effect could lead to optical switches in which light transmission would be controlled by single molecules. Researchers in Germany have demonstrated that the extinction cross section of a large gold nanoparticle can be substantially reduced—i.e., the particle becomes more transparent—if a single molecule is placed in its […]
Stanford engineers reprogram yeast cells to become microscopic drug factories
EurekAlert September 2, 2020 A team of researchers in the US (Stanford University, industry) engineered baker’s yeast to produce the medicinal alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine, starting from simple sugars and amino acids. They combined functional genomics to identify a missing pathway enzyme, protein engineering to enable the functional expression of an acyltransferase via trafficking to the vacuole, heterologous transporters to facilitate intracellular routing, and strain optimization to improve titres. Their integrated system positions more than twenty proteins adapted from yeast, bacteria, plants, and animals across six sub-cellular locations to recapitulate the spatial organization of tropane alkaloid biosynthesis in plants. Once […]
These Underwater Drones Use Water Temperature Differences To Recharge
IEEE Spectrum September 3, 2020 Many of the robotic gliders and floating sensor stations currently monitoring the world’s oceans are effectively treated as disposable devices. A team of researchers in the US is developing an underwater recharging station for oceangoing drones incorporating self-insulating electrical connector capable of operating while the powered electrical contacts are submerged. They tap phase change caused by the temperature differences between warmer water at the ocean surface and colder water at the ocean depths to generate electricity. By attaching an external energy-harvesting module they have transformed robotic probes into assets that can be recharged and reused […]
An unusual superconductor
Phys.org September 3, 2020 Researchers in China investigated the superconducting properties of two-dimensional crystalline superconducting PdTe2 films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. They observed the experimental evidence of anomalous metallic state and detected type-II Ising superconductivity existing in centrosymmetric systems. Moreover, the superconductivity of PdTe2 films remains almost the same for more than 20 months without any protection layer. This macro-size ambient-stable superconducting system with strong spin-orbit coupling shows great potentials in superconducting electronic and spintronic applications…read more.
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of August 28, 2020
01. Cosmic rays may soon stymie quantum computing 02. A novel approach produces a completely new kind of dynamic light structure 03. Photonics researchers report breakthrough in miniaturizing light-based chips 04. Researchers develop flat lens a thousand times thinner than a human hair 05. Storing information in antiferromagnetic materials 06. Thin layer protects battery, allows cold charging 07. Beating noise via superposition of order 08. New LiDAR Sensor Uses Mirrors to Achieve High Efficiency 09. Wireless device makes clean fuel from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water 10. Faster, more efficient energy storage could stem from holistic study of layered materials […]