Phys.org November 9, 2918 At extremely low temperatures, the atoms behave in a ‘quantum’ way, acting like both matter and waves. As the atoms fall, their wave properties are affected by the acceleration of the vehicle. Using an ‘optical ruler’, the accelerometer is able to measure these minute changes very accurately. Making use of this phenomenon researchers in the UK have demonstrated a transportable, standalone quantum accelerometer. The current system is designed for navigation of large vehicles, such as ships and even trains. However, the principle can also be used for fundamental science research, such as in the search for […]
Physicists name and codify new field in nanotechnology: ‘electron quantum metamaterials’
Nanowerk November 5, 2018 According to an international team of researchers (Singapore, USA – UC Riverside) synthesizing new materials by twisting and stacking atomically thin layers, is still in the “alchemy” stage. To bring it all under one roof, they have proposed this field of research be called “electron quantum metamaterials”. They highlight the potential of engineering synthetic periodic arrays with feature sizes below the wavelength of an electron and delve deeper and lay out the fundamental physics that may explain much of the research in electron quantum metamaterials…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
New insulating state found in stretched graphene
Nanowerk November 9, 2018 Using quantum simulation methods that model electron interactions explicitly, an international team of researchers (Italy, Japan) has found that when stretched graphene transitions to a more exotic nonmagnetic topological state called a Kekulé-like dimerized nonmagnetic insulator which could have interesting technological applications. They intend to find out more about the nature of the phase transition between electrons…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Nanofiber carpet could lead to new sticky or insulating surfaces
Phys.org November 14, 2018 A team of researchers in the US (University of Michigan. University of Wisconsin, Cornell University) has shown that chemical vapor polymerization can be performed on surfaces coated with thin films of liquid crystals to synthesize organized assemblies of end-attached polymer nanofibers. Their process uses low concentrations of radical monomers formed initially in the vapor phase and then diffused into the liquid-crystal template. This minimizes monomer-induced changes to the liquid-crystal phase and enables access to nanofiber arrays with complex yet precisely defined structures and compositions and permits tailoring of a wide range of functional properties – coatings […]
Materials scientist creates fabric alternative to batteries for wearable devices
Science Daily November 8, 2018 Researchers at UMass, Amherst, have used facile vapor deposition and sewing sequence to create rugged textile microsupercapacitors (MSCs). Conductive threads are vapor-coated with a stably p-doped conducting polymer film and then sewn onto a stretchy textile to form three-dimensional, compactly aligned electrodes with the electrode dimensions defined by the knit structure of the textile backing. The resulting solid-state device has an especially high areal capacitance and energy density sufficient to power contemporary iterations of wearable biosensors. These textile MSCs are super deformable, displaying unchanging electrochemical performance after fully rolling-up the device…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Innovative approach to controlling magnetism opens route to ultra-low-power microchips
Phys.com November 12, 2018 A team of researchers in the US (MIT, Brookhaven National Laboratory) has developed a device that consists of several thin layers, including a layer of cobalt where the magnetic changes take place, sandwiched between layers of a metal such as palladium or platinum, an overlay of gadolinium oxide, and a gold layer to connect to the driving electrical voltage. To change magnetic properties, they used hydrogen ions which can zip in and out very easily, making the new system much faster. Magnetism gets switched on with just a brief application of voltage and then stays put. […]
Help IARPA develop better activity detection algorithms for long video
Fedscoop November 8, 2018 IARPA has issued Activities in Extended Video Prize Challenge, a project which seeks to encourage the development of robust automatic activity detection algorithms for a multi-camera streaming video environment. Challenge participants will develop activity detection and temporal localization algorithms for 18 activities, such as a person opening a car trunk or talking to another person or texting, and locate those activities in time and space. The challenge kicks off Dec. 4 and will run until May 15, 2019…read more.
Graphene on the way to superconductivity
Science Daily November 9, 2018 Previously researchers at MIT showed that it is possible to generate a form of superconductivity in a system of two layers of graphene under very specific conditions using a complex method. Researchers in Germany have developed a simpler technique by heating silicon carbide crystal until silicon atoms evaporate from the surface, leaving first a single-layer of graphene on the surface, and then a second layer of graphene. The two graphene layers are not twisted against each other but lie exactly on top of each other. They argue that their two-dimensional flat band model and the […]
China’s giant ultra-high voltage grid is ambitious as its high speed rail
Next Big Future November 9, 2018 A 100-mile power line at 765 kilovolt carrying 1000 MW of power can have losses of 1.1% to 0.5%. China’s 1.1 megavolt line can have power losses that 10 to 20 times less than 345 kilovolt lines. When fully operational the link will be capable of transporting 12,000 megawatts of electricity over 3,000 km. China’s high voltage grid will be nearly 23,000 miles long. It will be able to deliver about 150 gigawatts of electricity. This is roughly the output of 150 nuclear reactors. In a study published in Nature in 2016, it was […]
Big data used to predict the future
Science Daily November 9, 2018 Using the multi-output regression models researchers in Spain have developed a technique to predict several variables simultaneously based on the same set of input variables, thus reducing the size of data necessary for the forecast to be exact. In tests they were able to reduce the amount of information needed to predict by 80% without affecting the predictive performance…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE