01. Single-electrode material streamlines functions into a tiny chip 02. Drones will fly for days with new photovoltaic engine 03. Recovering color images from scattered light 04. Every transistor has a unique quantum fingerprint—but can it be used as a form of ID? 05. Shaping light with a smartlens 06. Travelling towards a quantum internet at light speed 07. Hackers could use connected cars to gridlock whole cities 08. Technologies for the Sixth Generation Cellular Network 09. Camera can watch moving objects around corners 10. Laser solitons: Theory, topology and potential applications And others… Checking in with Army Futures Command […]
Shaping light with a smartlens
Nanowerk July 26, 2019 Liquid crystal spatial light modulators have been the tool of choice for high-resolution light shaping, but their implementation has proven to have limits in terms of performance, bulkiness and cost. An international team of researchers (Spain, France) has demonstrated a method of deterministic phase-front shaping using a planar thermo-optical module and designed microheaters to locally shape the refractive index distribution. When combined with a genetic algorithm optimization, this SmartLens can produce free-form optical wavefront modifications, generate complex functions based on either pure or combined Zernike polynomials, including lenses or aberration correctors of electrically tunable magnitude. This […]
Camera can watch moving objects around corners
Science Daily July 29, 2019 A team of researchers in the US (Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University) builds upon previous around-the-corner cameras they developed. It is able to capture more light from a greater variety of surfaces, see wider and farther away and is fast enough to monitor out-of-sight movement. The powerful laser scans a wall opposite the scene of interest and that light bounces off the wall, hits the objects in the scene, bounces back to the wall and to the camera sensors. By the time the laser light reaches the camera only specks remain, but the sensor captures […]
Checking in with Army Futures Command
Defense Systems July 29, 2019 A year after its launch, the Army Futures Command has hit full operating capability. The article provides a quick look at three projects: All-in-one heads-up display for the tactical environment, Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), Assured Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (APNT)…read more.
Darknet Biological and Chemical Terrorism Activities: Guide for Law Enforcement
Global Biodefense July 26, 2019 With the increasing use of the Darknet for criminal activities, the danger of acquiring, transferring, or smuggling biological or chemical material, weapons and chem/bio terrorism-related information while remaining undetected becomes ever more pressing. The ‘INTERPOL Operational Manual on Investigating Biological and Chemical Terrorism on the Darknet’ was developed by a team of experts within the CBRNE and cyber communities. Officers working in the fields of intelligence, counter-terrorism investigation and cybercrime are able to use this manual as a reference document that outlines the basic concepts, best international practices, as well as techniques and procedures useful […]
Drones will fly for days with new photovoltaic engine
Tech Xplore July 26, 2019 A team of researchers in the US (Laurence Berkeley National Laboratory, UCBerkeley, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Swarthmore College, University of Colorado, Caltech) used the rear mirror to create thermophotovoltaic systems with unprecedented high thermophotovoltaic efficiency. This mirror reflects low-energy infrared photons back into the heat source, recovering their energy. Therefore, the rear mirror serves a dual function; boosting the voltage and reusing infrared thermal photons. This allows the possibility of a practical >50% efficient thermophotovoltaic system…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Every transistor has a unique quantum fingerprint—but can it be used as a form of ID?
Phys.org July 26, 2019 In nanoelectronics the single-electron effect caused by traps are randomly distributed and not controllable therefore, different current–voltage characteristics are observed through traps even in silicon transistors having the same device parameters. Researchers in Japan analyzed the single-electron effect of traps in conventional silicon transistors. At sufficiently low temperatures at which single-electron effects can be observed (in this case, 1.54 K), they showed that current–voltage characteristics can be used as fingerprints of chips through image recognition algorithms. These results show that single-electron effects can provide a quantum version of a physically unclonable function (PUF). They retain their key […]
Experimental observation of a new class of materials: Excitonic insulators
Science Daily July 31, 2019 In a new study researchers in Australia have found evidence of a new phase of matter predicted in the 1960s: the excitonic insulator. It is a new phase of matter in the critical transition point between insulator and metal. The researchers studied antimony nanoflake using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. They observed the unique feature of the excitonic insulator, a charge density wave (CDW) without periodic lattice distortion and a gap induced by the CDW near the Fermi surface, suggesting that the antimony (Sb(110)) nanoflake is an excitonic insulator. They are predicted to host many […]
Hackers could use connected cars to gridlock whole cities
EurekAlert July 28, 2019 A team of researchers in the US (Georgia Institute of Technology, industry) studied a scenario envisioned by cybersecurity experts leading to a large number of internet-connected vehicles being suddenly and simultaneously disabled. To investigate the aftermath of the post hack they used an agent-based simulation and discovered the critical relevance of percolation for probabilistically predicting the outcomes on a multilane road in the immediate aftermath of a vehicle-targeted cyberattack. They developed an analytic percolation-based model to rapidly assess road conditions given the density of disabled vehicles and applied it to study the street network of Manhattan […]
Laser solitons: Theory, topology and potential applications
Science Daily July 31, 2019 Solitons have found applications in data transmission but even these gradually dissipate unless the medium they travel through has ultra-low absorbance. In computer simulations researchers in Russia found that suggesting that it was theoretically possible to produce a stable soliton in a wide-aperture laser if it was stabilised by external radiation. Beginning from geometrically one-dimensional and turning to two-dimensional and then to three-dimensional solitons they demonstrated the evolution of the features. When the remaining questions are answered, the stability of these solitons and their topology suggest potential applications in storing digital information…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE