Science Alert June 28, 2020 A CubeSat launched last year from the International Space Station was specially designed to shield the entangled photon source from the pressures and temperatures of a launch from Earth. An international team of researchers (Singapore, Turkey, Switzerland, Australia, UK) describes the experiment which is composed of a source of entangled photon pairs coupled to a detector module all controlled by an integrated electronics subsystem. A micro-controller on the experiment interfaces to the satellite’s on-board computer to receive commands and to return science data to ground control. It operates using as little power as possible. The […]
Study reveals magnetic process that can lead to more energy-efficient memory in computers
Science Daily June 30, 2020 Magnetic memory and logic devices that use skyrmions rely on current-controlled motion of skyrmions. A team of researchers in the US (Virginia Commonwealth University, UCLA) has shown that using skyrmions that are fixed in space could lead to more compact and energy-efficient devices. They manipulated fixed magnetic skyrmions using voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy to show that skyrmions can be stabilized in antiferromagnet/ferromagnet/oxide heterostructure films without any external magnetic field due to an exchange bias field. The isolated skyrmions are annihilated or formed by applying voltage pulses and skyrmions can be created from chiral domains by increasing […]
Wearable-tech glove translates sign language into speech in real time
Science Daily June 29, 2020 An international team of researchers (China, USA – UCLA) has developed wearable sign-to-speech translation system composed of yarn-based stretchable sensor arrays and a wireless printed circuit board. It offers a high sensitivity and fast response time, allowing real-time translation of signs into spoken words to be performed. By analysing 660 acquired sign language hand gesture recognition patterns, they demonstrated a recognition rate of up to 98.63% and a recognition time of less than 1 second…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of June 26, 2020
01. A Metal-like Quantum Gas: A pathbreaking platform for quantum simulation 02. Strainoptronics: A new way to control photons 03. Synthetic materials mimic living creatures 04. New technique may enable all-optical data-center networks 05. Engineers design a device that operates like a brain synapse 06. Microscopic computers: The wires of the future may be made of molecules 07. New system uses wind turbines to defend the national grid from power cuts 08. Fifty perfect photons for ‘quantum supremacy’ 09. Device turns wasted heat into clean electricity, scientists say 10. New quantum materials with unique properties And others… How water in […]
Device turns wasted heat into clean electricity, scientists say
Phys.org June 24, 2020 The practical efficiency of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) deployed under real environments is still not more than a few percent. A team of researchers in the US (Virginia tech, Penn State) provide fundamental insight on the operation of TEGs in realistic environments by illustrating the combined effect of thermoelectric material properties, device boundary conditions, and environmental thermal resistivity on their performance in conjunction with the module parameters. They demonstrated the existence of a critical heat transfer coefficient that dramatically affects the design and performance of TEGs. The TEGs they demonstrated generated up to 28% higher power and […]
Engineers design a device that operates like a brain synapse
Nanowerk June 19, 2020 Learning that takes place in the brain is based on the gradual strengthening or weakening of the connections between synapses whose electronic conductance can be controlled electrically. A team of researchers in the US (MIT, Brookhaven National Laboratory) has developed a resistive switch which is an electrochemical device, made of tungsten trioxide (WO3) and works in a way similar to the charging and discharging of batteries. Just as conductivity can be changed in silicon by doping, they changed the resistance of the synapses by moving ions. Calcium, potassium, magnesium ions were used. They have demonstrated good […]
Fifty perfect photons for ‘quantum supremacy’
Phys.org June 23, 2020 About 50 quantum building blocks are needed to solve problems whether they are in the form of photons or qubits. Photons can operate at room temperatures and they are more stable. But they must be perfect to get to the critical number of 50. An international team of researchers (the Netherlands, Germany) found that by playing with the crystal structure of the light source and dividing them into domains, it was possible to produce light with the desired properties. Varying the domains, however, is required for better tailoring of the light properties…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
How water in the deep Earth triggers earthquakes and tsunamis
Science Daily June 24, 2020 Oceanic lithosphere carries volatiles, notably water, into the mantle through subduction at convergent plate boundaries. This subducted water exercises control on the production of magma, earthquakes, formation of continental crust and mineral resources. An international team of researchers (UK, Germany) studied boron trace element and isotopic fingerprints of melt inclusions. These reveal that hydrated mantle rather than crust is a dominant supplier of subducted water to the central arc. The current dehydration of these fracture zones coincides with the current locations of the highest rates of earthquakes. The combined geochemical and geophysical data indicate that […]
Innovators Under 35, 2020
MIT Technology Review June 24, 2020 Every year the magazine highlights the projects young innovators are working on to show at least some of the possible directions that technology will take in the coming decade. This contest generates more than 500 nominations each year. The editors then face the task of picking 100 semifinalists to put in front of our 25 judges who have expertise in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, software, energy, materials, and so on. With the invaluable help of these rankings, the editors pick the final list of 35…read more.
A Metal-like Quantum Gas: A pathbreaking platform for quantum simulation
EurekAlert June 22, 2020 Electronic properties of condensed matter are often determined by an intricate competition between kinetic energy that aims to overlap and delocalize electronic wave functions across the crystal lattice, and localizing electron-electron interactions. In contrast, the gaseous phase is characterized by valence electrons tightly localized around the ionic atom cores in discrete quantum states with well-defined energies. A hybrid state of matter is created when a gas of isolated atoms is suddenly excited to a state where electronic wave functions spatially overlap like in a solid. Researchers in Japan created such a hybrid state with overlapping high-lying electronic […]