Physorg March 6, 2018 Researchers in Spain propose a compact self-powered transistor that incorporates the energy source and a transistor into the same slim unit. They used ferroelectric oxide to create the heterojunction needed for solar functionality. It harnesses the switchable polarisation of the ferroelectric layer to achieve off and on states –1s and 0s– in the flow of electrons harvested by the organic semiconductor. Coined the “solaristor”, this game-changing concept combines the best of solar cells and the best of transistors into a single device the size of a biological cell… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
New ultrafast measurement technique shows how lasers start from chaos
Physorg March 9, 2018 By measuring the laser temporal intensity with sub-picosecond resolution, as well as its optical spectrum with sub-nanometer resolution simultaneously, an international team of researchers (Finland, France) retrieved the complete characteristics of the underlying electromagnetic field. The results provide a very convenient laboratory example of a dissipative soliton system which is a central concept in nonlinear science and relevant to studies in other fields, such as biology, medicine and possibly even social sciences… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
The quantum states on the surface of conducting materials can strongly interact with light
Physorg March 9, 2018 Researchers in Singapore show that Dirac semimetals are unusual in that they possess a very optically active surface due to the peculiar Fermi arc states. Surface absorption depends heavily on the polarization of light, being 100 to 1,000 times stronger when light is polarized perpendicular—rather than parallel—to the crystal’s rotational axis. This strong anisotropy offers a way of optically investigating and probing the topological surfaces states of Dirac semimetals which could host unusual opto-electronic behavior that goes beyond conventional materials… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Research team creates hydrogel adhesives to seal wounds
Physorg March 9, 2018 Researchers at Harvard University have developed a hydrogel which is a hybrid of two different polymers: a seaweed extract called alginate and polyacrylamide. When these become entangled with each other, they create a molecular network that demonstrates unprecedented toughness and resilience for a hydrogel material—on par with the body’s natural cartilage. When combined with an adhesive layer containing positively charged polymer molecules, the resulting hybrid material can bind to tissues, stretch up to 20 times its initial length, and attach to wet tissue surfaces undergoing dynamic movement… read more.
Researchers develop heat switch for electronics
Physorg March 8, 2018 Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign engineered a specific heat flow path between the hot region and cold region, and then created a way to break the heat flow path when desired. The technology is based on the motion of a liquid metal droplet which can be positioned to connect a heat flow path or moved away from the heat flow path to limit the heat flow. In demonstrations, when the switch was on, they were able to extract heat at more than 10 W/cm2. When the switch was off, the heat flow […]
Study: On Twitter, false news travels faster than true stories
MIT News March 8, 2018 Researchers at MIT found that falsehood diffuses significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth, in all categories of information, and in many cases by an order of magnitude. Humans, not bots, are primarily responsible for spreading misleading information therefore behavioral interventions become even more important in our fight to stop the spread of false news. The study provides a variety of ways of quantifying this phenomenon… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Scaling silicon quantum photonic technology
Physorg March 9, 2018 An international team of researchers (UK, China, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Spain) has demonstrated a programmable path-encoded multidimensional entangled system with dimension up to 15×15, where two photons exist over 15 optical paths at the same time and are entangled with each other. This multidimensional entanglement is realised by exploiting silicon-photonics quantum circuits, integrating in a single chip, 550 optical components, including 16 identical photon-pair sources, 93 optical phase-shifters, 122 beam-splitters. The research provides a clear path to scaling up to the many millions of components that are ultimately needed for large-scale quantum computing applications… read more. […]
Scientists gain new visibility into quantum information transfer
MIT News March 8, 2018 A team of researchers in the US (MIT, Dartmouth College) combined NMR techniques with their knowledge of the spin dynamics in their crystal, whose geometry approximately confines the evolution to linear spin chains. It allowed them to figure out a metric, average correlation length, for how many spins are connected to each other in a chain and determine if the interaction is winning or disorder is winning keeping the system in a more quantum localized state. The method represents a possible advance toward the ability to control localization. Because many-body localization preserves information and prevents […]
Scientists Just Discovered a Strange New Type of Ice Inside Deep-Earth Diamonds
Science Alert March 9, 2018 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Nevada, University of Chicago, Caltech, University of Hawaii, China) found inclusions of the high-pressure form of water called ice-VII in diamonds sourced from between 410 and 660 km depth, the part of the mantle known as the transition zone. The discovery requires recalculation of the total amount of water our planet happens to hold and changes how we model everything from the way heat moves through the crust to models predicting the frequency of earthquakes… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Scientists accurately model the action of aerosols on clouds
Science Daily March 8, 2018 The action of aerosols is an important element of research on climate change, as they partially counteract the heating action of greenhouse gases. Using the K computer, researchers in Japan combined a model that simulates the entire global weather over a year taking into account the vertical processes inside clouds, accurately modelling the microphysics of clouds, giving a more accurate picture of how clouds and aerosols behave in the real world. The explicit representation of cloud microphysics in global scale modelling reduces the uncertainty of climate prediction… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE