Phys.org March 18, 2019 Researchers in Germany have demonstrated that an organic molecule placed into an optical microcavity behaves as a coherent two-level quantum system. This allows the observation of 99% extinction of a laser beam by a single molecule, saturation with less than 0.5 photons and non-classical generation of few-photons super-bunched light. They demonstrated that their molecule-microcavity system could interact with single photons generated by a second molecule in a distant laboratory. The research is an important step towards linear and nonlinear quantum photonic circuits based on organic platforms…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Ten big global challenges technology could solve
MIT Technology Review February 27, 2019 According to the editors of MIT Technology Review the following 10 challenges are incredibly important but none is easy: Carbon sequestration, Grid-scale energy storage, Universal flu vaccine, Dementia treatment, Ocean clean-up, Energy-efficient desalination, Safe driverless car, Embodied AI, Earthquake prediction and Brain decoding…read more.
Russian Army Has New Body Armor and Promise Combat Exoskeletons
Next Big Future March 11, 2019 Russia is promising to develop Ratnik-3 which would be advanced combat exoskeletons, UAVs and combat robots. They are displaying mockups of advanced guns, new helmets and more complete body armor. The main problem for real exoskeletons that boost the weight that a soldier can carry or provide real force multipliers is the batteries and power systems for the gear. US has also been developing combat exoskeletons. Russia and the USA have had small field tests of some exoskeleton systems. US military research has admitted that it will still be 5-10 years or more before […]
Research paves the way for next generation of optical tweezers
Phys.org March 14, 2019 Optical tweezers are used to study proteins, biological molecular motors, DNA and the inner life of cells – to hold objects as small as a single nanoparticle in one place. However, the high intensities of light required by optical tweezers can damage live biological specimens and restrict the types of objects that can be held. Researchers in the UK have developed optically trapped micro-rotors, which are placed in the liquid surrounding the particle, and used to manipulate its movement using fluid flow. As the micro-rotors are rotated, they create a wave in the liquid that exerts […]
Recovering scattered data from twisted light via ‘scattering-matrix-assisted retrieval technique (SMART)’
Phys.org March 14, 2019 Multiplexing multiple orbital angular momentum (OAM) channels enables high-capacity optical communication but decreases the orthogonality between OAM channels for demultiplexing and eventually increases crosstalk in communication. To overcome this an international team of researchers (China, USA – Caltech, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Netherlands, France) developed scattering-matrix-assisted retrieval technique (SMART) to demultiplex OAM channels from highly scattered optical fields and achieve an experimental crosstalk of –13.8 dB in the parallel sorting of 24 OAM channels after passing through a scattering medium. They demonstrated high-fidelity transmission of images under scattering conditions at an error rate of <0.08%. using […]
NUS researchers create water-resistant electronic skin with self-healing abilities
Eurekalert March 18, 2019 An international team of researchers (China Singapore) has developed a material inspired by jellyfish. It is composed of a fluorocarbon elastomer and a fluorine-rich ionic liquid, has an ionic conductivity that can be tuned to as high as 10−3 S cm−1 and can withstand strains as high as 2,000%. Owing to ion–dipole interactions, it offers fast and repeatable electro-mechanical self-healing in wet, acidic and alkali environments. It can be printed into soft and pliable ionic circuit boards and touch, pressure and strain sensors. The material has applications in aquatic soft robots and water-resistant human–machine interfaces…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Nanocrystal ‘factory’ could revolutionize quantum dot manufacturing
Phys.org March 15, 2019 Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a microfluidic system (called NC Factory) which starts with cesium lead bromide perovskite quantum dots and introduced various halide salts to precisely tune their fluorescence color across the entire spectrum of visible light. Anions in these salts replace the bromine atoms in the green-emitting dots with either iodine atoms (to move toward the red end of the spectrum) or chlorine atoms (to move toward blue). Coupled with continuous process monitoring, the system can precisely control both chemical composition and processing parameters. It can be used to continuously manufacture […]
Nanocoating makes lightweight metal foams bone-hard and explosion-proof
Phys.org March 15, 2019 The metal foams currently available are suitably lightweight, but the production process is complicated and expensive, and the structures are still too weak and not resilient enough for many applications. Inspired by bone, researchers in Germany used aluminium or polymer foam as the initial lattice substrate to manufacture highly stable, porous metallic foams. They developed a proprietary procedure for coating the individual struts that make up the open-cell interior lattice. As a result, the exterior of the foam is stronger, more stable, light and the withstands extreme loads. They found polyurethane foams have a low density, […]
Long-distance quantum information exchange—success at the nanoscale
Phys.org March 15, 2019 An international team of researchers (Denmark, Australia, USA – Purdue University) discovered that by placing a large, elongated quantum dot between the left dots and right dots, it can mediate a coherent swap of spin states, within a billionth of a second, without ever moving electrons out of their dots. In other words, we now have both fast interaction and the necessary space for the pulsed gate electrodes. The research may have profound implications for the architecture of solid-state quantum computers allowing the realization of networks in which the increased qubit-qubit connectivity translated into a significantly […]
Global Funding Forecast Predicts Growth of R&D Spending Worldwide
R&D Magazine March 12, 2019 The Global R&D Funding Forecast is created based on proprietary reader surveys, current technology and economic reports and in-depth reporting. According to this year’s study, the global trend in R&D spending continues to grow worldwide, reflecting a surge to $240 billion in the Information & Technology sector. As in previous years, the growth in global R&D investments is being driven by spending in Asian countries, in particular China, which exceeds $500 billion in spending accounting for a 22 percent global share in investments. The United States will increase its R&D spending by $15.3 billion in […]