Science Daily April 6, 2020 According to an international team of researchers (Finland, Australia, Germany, South Africa, Austria, the Netherlands, UK, Singapore, Italy, Colombia, USA – Florida A&M University, University of Florida, Switzerland, Brazil, Philippines) with insect extinctions we lose abundance and biomass of insects, diversity across space and time with consequent homogenization, large parts of the tree of life, unique ecological functions and traits, and fundamental parts of extensive networks of biotic interactions. From pollination and decomposition, to being resources for new medicines, habitat quality indication and many others, insects provide essential and irreplaceable services. They recommend urgent action […]
Sliding walls – a new paradigm for microfluidic devices
Nanowerk April 9, 2020 Currently, fluidic control in microdevices is mainly achieved either by external pumps and valves, which are expensive and bulky, or by valves integrated in the chip. Researchers in France propose a new paradigm for actuation in microfluidic devices based on rigid or semi-rigid walls with transversal dimensions of hundreds of micrometres that can slide within a microfluidic chip and to intersect microchannels with hand-driven or translation stage-based actuation. The new concept for reconfigurable microfluidics, the implementation of a wide range of functionalities was facilitated and allowed for no or limited dead volume, low cost and low […]
Squeezing Light Out of Silicon
IEEE Spectrum April 8, 2020 Cubic Si, Ge and SiGe alloys are all indirect-bandgap semiconductors that cannot emit light efficiently. An international team of researchers (the Netherlands, Germany, Austria) has demonstrated efficient light emission from direct-bandgap hexagonal Ge and SiGe alloys. They have shown that by controlling the composition of the hexagonal SiGe alloy, the emission wavelength can be continuously tuned over a broad range, while preserving the direct bandgap. Their experimental findings are in excellent quantitative agreement with ab initio theory. Hexagonal SiGe embodies an ideal material system in which to combine electronic and optoelectronic functionalities on a single […]
Team develops foldable and washable luminescent film
Phys.org April 8, 2020 The conversion of invisible infrared or ultraviolet light into visible light allows us to intuitively see the data contained in the light, and thus enables the use of infrared or ultraviolet light for displays or imaging devices. As ultraviolet light is high in energy its conversion into visible light relatively easy and efficient. A team of researchers in South Korea made a square lattice array of silica microbeads decorated with up-conversion nanoparticles and metal structures. This configuration maximizes both the absorption of near-infrared light and the luminescence of visible light, thus increasing the efficiency of near-infrared-to-visible […]
A twist connecting magnetism and electronic-band topology
Phys.org April 6, 2020 There are only very few examples where the topology of the electronic bands is connected in a well-defined manner to the magnetic properties of the materials. One material in which such interplay between topological electronic states and magnetism has been observed is CaMnBi2, but the mechanism connecting the two remained unclear. An international team of researchers (Switzerland, Germany, China, USA – Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University) report a comprehensive study providing clear evidence that a slight nudge on the magnetic moments, known as spin canting, provokes substantial changes in the electronic band structure. These findings […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of April 3, 2020
01. Physicist from Hannover develops new photon source for tap-proof communication 02. Extreme high-frequency signals enable terabits-per-second data links 03. Quantum copycat: Researchers find a new way in which bosons behave like fermions 04. Quantum-entangled light from a vibrating membrane 05. Researchers catch light in a funnel 06. Smaller scale solutions needed for rapid progress towards emissions targets 07. World record transmission of 172 Tb/s over 2040km distance coupled-3-core multi-core fiber 08. An all-organic proton battery energized for sustainable energy storage 09. Scientists electrify aluminum to speed up important process 10. Graphene-based actuator swarm enables programmable deformation And others… Does […]
An all-organic proton battery energized for sustainable energy storage
EurekAlert April 2, 2020 Researchers in Sweden have developed a battery using quinones, which occurs in photosynthesis, as the active material. It has the ability to absorb or emit hydrogen ions during charging and discharging. An acidic aqueous solution was used as an electrolyte. They demonstrated the battery can be easily charged using a solar cell without the help of advanced electronics and it is unaffected by ambient temperature. The battery retains properties such as capacity down to as low as -24°C… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Does relativity lie at the source of quantum exoticism?
Phys.org April 2, 2020 In quantum mechanics inherent randomness happens without any cause. Randomness that appears in non-relativistic quantum theory tacitly respects relativity, for example, it makes instantaneous signaling impossible. An international team of researchers (Poland, Singapore, UK) argues that this is because the special theory of relativity can itself account for such a random behavior. They show that the full mathematical structure of the Lorentz transformation, the one which includes the superluminal part, implies the emergence of non-deterministic dynamics, together with complex probability amplitudes and multiple trajectories. This indicates that the connections between the two seemingly different theories are […]
Energy-harvesting design aims to turn Wi-Fi signals into usable power
Phys.org March 30,2020 Existing rectifiers are mostly based on semiconductor diodes, with limited applicability to small-voltage or high-frequency inputs. Researchers at MIT present an alternative approach to current rectification that uses the intrinsic electronic properties of quantum crystals without using semiconductor junctions. They identified a previously unknown mechanism for rectification from skew scattering due to the inherent chirality of itinerant electrons in time-reversal invariant but inversion-breaking materials. Their calculations reveal large, tunable rectification effects in graphene multilayers and transition metal dichalcogenides. Their work demonstrates the possibility of realizing high-frequency rectifiers by rational material design and quantum wave function engineering…read more. […]
Extreme high-frequency signals enable terabits-per-second data links
Phys.com March 31, 2020 A team of researchers in the US (Brown University, industry) tested sending extremely high-frequency 200 GHz signals through a device with two wires running parallel inside a sheath with a large diameter that facilitates increased mixing of the waveguide modes. These mixtures enable the transmission of parallel noninterfering data channels. They demonstrated that the waveguide could support a data rate of 10 terabits per second. Their work demonstrates the feasibility of this approach to high-rate data transmission…read more.