Nanowerk April 16, 2018 An international team of researchers (Russia, UK, Germany) has devised a method to study extremely fast phase transitions in Mott insulators. Their theory involves firing extremely short tailored laser pulses at a material to observe how the electrons in the material are excited into motion and emit resonant vibrations at specific frequencies, as harmonics of the incident light. By analysing the high harmonic spectrum, they could observe the change in the structural order in the materials. Such phase transitions should allow us to develop entirely new switching elements for the next-generation electronics that are faster and […]
Japan Just Found a Huge Rare-Earth Mineral Deposit That Can Supply The World For Centuries
Science Alert April 16, 2018 Rare-earth minerals used in electronic devices are plentiful in layers of the Earth’s crust. There are only a few economically viable areas where they can be mined and they’re generally expensive to extract. Researchers in Japan have found a deposit of rare-earth minerals about 1,150 miles (1,850 km) southeast of Tokyo. It’s within Japan’s exclusive economic zone, so the island nation has the sole rights to the resources there. There’s enough yttrium to meet the global demand for 780 years, dysprosium for 730 years, europium for 620 years, and terbium for 420 years. China has tightly […]
New device modulates light and amplifies tiny signals
Phys.org April 9, 2018 Researchers at NIST have created a plasmomechanical oscillator (PMO) that tightly couples plasmons to the mechanical vibrations of the much larger device in which it is embedded. The device consists of a gold nanoparticle, about 100 nanometers in diameter, embedded in a tiny cantilever made of silicon nitride. An air gap lies sandwiched between these components and an underlying gold plate; the width of the gap is controlled by an electrostatic actuator and bends toward the plate when a voltage is applied. The nanoparticle acts as a single plasmonic structure that has a natural frequency that […]
Novel thermal phases of topological quantum matter in the lab
Phys.org April 18, 2018 Using quantum simulators, an international team of researchers (Spain, USA – MIT, Harvard University, Switzerland) replicated topological insulators at finite temperature and measured their topological quantum phases and complete phase diagram including environmental effects. The proposed measurement scheme does not involve prior knowledge of the system state and it is extensible to interacting particles and topological models with a large number of bands. The research advances the synthesis and control of topological matter using quantum technologies. Among other applications, topological quantum matter could be used as hardware for future quantum computers… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL […]
Physicists Just Broke a Quantum Record, Taking Entanglement to a Spooky New Level
Science Alert April 16, 2018 An international team of researchers (Austria, Germany) used an ion trap to confine calcium ions using a magnetic field. They used lasers to entangle the ions, creating a 20-qubit system, with each qubit encoded into the electronic state of a trapped atomic ion. Their quantum states can be individually controlled, and they were able to individually read and address each of the qubits. The team were able to get the calcium ions to entangle with two, three, or occasionally even four other calcium ions in the system… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Quantum shift shows itself in coupled light and matter
Science Daily April 16, 2018 An international team of researchers (USA – Rice University, Argonne National Laboratory, Purdue University, Japan) created resonance frequency shift in solid gallium arsenide in a strong perpendicular magnetic field. They hybridize with the “vacuum” electromagnetic field in the cavity to form polaritons. They have demonstrated Bloch–Siegert shift, which is induced by the ultra-strong coupling of matter with the counter-rotating component of the vacuum fluctuation field in a cavity. The research could aid in the development of quantum computers… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Scientists breed bacteria that make tiny high-energy carbon rings
Science Daily April 6, 2018 Researchers at Caltech used directed evolution to evolve a new function in Escherichia coli bacteria, to produce a high-energy carbon compound, bicyclobutanes, a group of chemicals that contain four carbon atoms arranged so they form two triangles that share a side. The carbon rings are useful starting materials for creating other chemicals and materials… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Ultra-powerful batteries made safer, more efficient
Science Daily April 9, 2018 Using mathematical modeling, an international team of researchers (China, USA – University of Delaware, Boston University, Utah State University) fabricated a membrane made of tiny wires of porous silicon nitride that measured less than one millionth of a meter each, to suppress the initiation and growth of dendrites. They integrated this membrane into lithium metal cells in a battery and ran it for 3,000 hours without growing dendrites. The principle may also extend to other battery systems, such as zinc or potassium-based batteries… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Virtual contact lenses for radar satellites
Science Daily April 16, 2018 Water level from sea ice-covered oceans is particularly challenging to retrieve with satellite radar altimeters due to the different shapes assumed by the returned signal compared with the standard open ocean waveforms. An international team of researchers (Germany, Denmark, UK, Italy) has developed a fitting (also called retracking) strategy (ALES+) based on a subwaveform retracker that is able to adapt the fitting of the signal depending on the sea state and on the slope of its trailing edge. The algorithm modifies the existing Adaptive Leading Edge Subwaveform retracker originally designed for coastal waters and is […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Innovations for the Week of April 13, 2018
01. Scientists observe mirror-like physics of the superconductor-insulator transition 02. Thin engineered material perfectly redirects and reflects sound 03. The future of photonics using quantum dots 04. New research shows how paper-cutting can make ultra-strong, stretchable electronics 05. Researchers develop injectable bandage 06. Static friction between surfaces can be made to disappear entirely 07. Researchers develop nanoparticle films for high-density data storage 08. Robot designed to defend factories against cyberthreats 09. A different spin on superconductivity—Unusual particle interactions open up new possibilities in exotic materials 10. Why We Need a Universal Flu Vaccine And others… Asking the questions that unlock […]