Science Daily December 13, 2022 Harvesting an electrical current from biological photosynthetic systems is typically achieved by immersion of the system into an electrolyte solution. Researchers in Israel used the thick water-preserving outer cuticle of the succulent Corpuscularia lehmannii serves as the electrochemical container, the inner water content as the electrolyte into which an iron anode and platinum cathode were introduced. They produced up to 20 μA/cm2 bias-free photocurrent. When 0.5 V bias was added to the iron anode, the current density increased ∼10-fold, and evolved hydrogen gas could be collected with a Faradaic efficiency of 2.1 and 3.5% in […]
Researchers release roadmap for the development of quantum information technologies
Phys.org December 14, 2022 Q-NEXT, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Quantum Information Science Research Center, has created a roadmap for quantum interconnects research and its impact for quantum information science and technology. Q-NEXT members and participants are from academia, industry, and DOE national laboratories. The roadmap addresses the role of quantum interconnects in three emerging areas of quantum information: computing, communication, and sensing. The roadmap reviews the materials, components and systems used for these purposes; summarizes relevant scientific questions and issues; and addresses the most pressing research needs. It distills these considerations into recommendations for strategic science and […]
Scientific highlights 2022
Max Plank Society December 14, 2022 Many publications by Max Planck scientists in 2022 were of great social relevance or met with a great media response. We have selected 12 articles to present you with an overview of some noteworthy research of the year…read more.
Scientists turn single molecule clockwise or counterclockwise on demand
Phys.org December 21, 2022 Complexes containing rare-earth ions attract great attention for their technological applications ranging from spintronic devices to quantum information science. While charged rare-earth coordination complexes are ubiquitous in solution, they are challenging to form on materials surfaces that would allow investigations for potential solid-state applications. A team or researchers in the US (Argonne National Laboratory, Ohio University, University of Illinois) has demonstrated formation and atomically precise manipulation of rare-earth complexes on gold surface. Although they are composed of multiple units held together by electrostatic interactions, the entire complex rotates as a single unit when electrical energy is […]
Signal processing algorithms improved turbulence in free-space optic tests
Science Daily December 20, 2022 Researchers in the UK used commercially available photonic lanterns, a commercial transponder, and a spatial light modulator to emulate turbulence. They simultaneously transmitted multiple data signals using different spatially shaped beams of light using a photonic lantern. By detecting light with these shapes using a second lantern, more of the light is collected at the receiver, and the original data can be unscrambled greatly reduce the impact of the atmosphere on the quality of the data received in MIMO digital signal processing. By transmitting multiple beams of different shapes through the same telescopes and detecting […]
Team creates protein-based material that can stop supersonic impacts
Phys.org December 13, 2022 Extreme energy dissipating materials are essential for a range of applications, in the military, law enforcement, aerospace industry to name a few. Researchers in the UK have created and patented a new shock-absorbing material that could revolutionize both the defense and planetary science sectors. They incorporated a recombinant form of the mechanosensitive protein talin into a monomeric unit and crosslinked, resulting in the production of a talin shock absorbing material (TSAM). When subjected to 1.5 km/s supersonic shots, TSAMs were shown not only to absorb the impact, but to capture/preserve the projectile. According to the researchers […]
Using the power of symmetry for new quantum technologies
Phys.org December 15, 2022 In previous research, only one waveguide has been coupled to the qubit with limited access to its symmetries. Researchers in Sweden used two waveguides. They demonstrated a novel coupling scheme between an artificial molecule comprising two identical, strongly coupled transmon qubits and two microwave waveguides. The coupling was engineered so that transitions between states of the same symmetry, with respect to the permutation operator, are predominantly coupled to one waveguide. The coupling selectivity exceeded by a factor of 30 for both waveguides in their device. They showed that it can be used to coherently couple states […]
What drives the recent decline of East Asian dust activity?
Phys.org December 21, 2022 Dust entrained into the atmosphere serves as a major aerosol type, exerting effects on weather and climate system via aerosol-radiation-cloud interactions and delivering nutrients from continents to other continents and oceans. Using a physically-based dust emission model, an international team of researchers (China, Germany, USA – Texas A&M University) has shown that the weakening of surface wind and the increasing of vegetation cover and soil moisture have all contributed to the decline in dust activity during 2001 to 2017. The relative contributions of these three factors to the dust emission reduction during 2010–2017 relative to 2001 […]
Top 10 Science and Technology Inventions for the Week of December 16, 2022
01. Best of Last Year: The top Phys.org articles of 2022 02. Chemists create quantum dots at room temperature using lab-designed protein 03. Combination of two materials creates high-performance, stretchy nanogenerator 04. Designing self-assembling ‘smart materials’ 05. Growing a tiny metallic snowflake 06. International research team creates previously unknown nitrogen compounds 07. Molecular shape-shifting: New theory on autonomous remodeling of structures 08. New battery technology has potential to significantly reduce energy storage costs 09. Paper-thin solar cell can turn any surface into a power source (w/video) 10. Using lasers to bond semiconductor electronics components And others… Scientists map heat beneath […]
Best of Last Year: The top Phys.org articles of 2022
Phys.org December 9, 2022 It was a good year for research of all kinds as three men shared the Nobel Prize in physics for their work that showed that tiny particles separated from one another at great distances can be entangled. Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger won the award for their work showing that the counterintuitive field of quantum entanglement is real and demonstrable…read more.