EurekAlert April 30, 2020 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Michigan, University of Illinois, Los Alamos National Laboratory, UK) developed an algorithm capable of identifying weak radiation signals, such as might be seen from plutonium encased materials that absorb radiation. It works even in the presence of a high radiation background, including everyday sources such as cosmic rays from space and radon from the rock underfoot. Based on their results, they believe the use of their algorithm could improve the ability of radiation portal monitors at national borders to tell the difference between potential smuggling activity and […]
Category Archives: Sensors
Broad spectrum: Novel hybrid material proves an efficient photodetector
Phys.org April 9, 2020 The MOF compound developed by researchers in Germany comprises an organic material integrated with iron ions. The MOF forms superimposed layers with semiconducting properties, which makes it potentially interesting for optoelectronic applications. They found that the light sensitivity was dependent on temperature and wavelength from 400 to 1,575 nanometers. The spectrum of radiation goes from ultraviolet to near infrared. As the bandgap in the material is very small, only very little light energy is required to induce the electricity. The performance of the detector can be improved by cooling the detector down to lower temperatures and […]
Graphene underpins a new platform to selectively ID deadly strains of bacteria
Technology.org March 24, 2020 Point-of-care diagnostics that can reduce and/or prevent unneeded antibiotic prescriptions require highly specific probes with sensitive and accurate transducers that can be miniaturized and multiplexed, and that are easy to operate and cheap. Researchers at Boston College present several advances in the use of graphene field effect transistors (G-FET) including the first use of peptide probes to electrically detect antibiotic resistant bacteria in a highly specific manner. They have reduced the needed concentration for detection by employing dielectrophoresis which allows monitoring changes in the Dirac point due to individual bacterial cells. Rapid binding of bacterial cells […]
Atomic fingerprint identifies emission sources of uranium
Science Daily March 9, 2020 Isotopic ratios of radioactive releases into the environment are useful signatures for contamination source assessment. A ratio of uranium trace isotopes may serve as a superior oceanographic tracer. An international team of researchers (Austria, Australia, Denmark, Japan, Germany) analysed ratio on the atomic 233U/236U ratio analyzed in representative environmental samples. The ratios detected in compartments of the environment affected by releases of nuclear power production or by weapons fallout differ by one order of magnitude. Significant amounts of 233U were only released in nuclear weapons fallout. This makes the 233U/236U ratio a promising new fingerprint […]
A new AI chip can perform image recognition tasks in nanoseconds
MIT Technology Review March 4, 2020 Visual information is captured by a frame-based camera, converted into a digital format and processed afterwards using a machine-learning algorithm such as an artificial neural network (ANN). The large amount of data passed through the entire signal chain, however, results in low frame rates and high-power consumption. Researchers in Austria built a sensor based on a reconfigurable two-dimensional semiconductor photodiode array, and the synaptic weights of the network are stored in a continuously tunable photoresponsivity matrix. The sensor can itself constitute an ANN that can simultaneously sense and process optical images without latency. They […]
Highly sensitive sensors show promise in enhancing human touch
Nanowerk February 18, 2020 People rely on a highly tuned sense of touch to manipulate objects, but injuries to the skin and the simple act of wearing gloves can impair this ability. Researchers in China have developed a visually aided tactile enhancement system for precise motion control by combining ultrathin, highly sensitive, crack-based strain sensors and signal acquisition circuit with real-time display equipment. With the optimization of the thicknesses of the substrates and sensitive films of the strain sensors, the device has a detection limit as low as 0.01% and an ultrahigh gauge factor of 44 013 at a strain of […]
A spookily good sensor
Phys.org February 19, 2020 Researchers in Japan placed a millimeter-sized sphere of yttrium iron garnet in the same resonant cavity as a superconducting Josephson junction qubit, which acted as the sensor. Because of the coupling of the sphere to resonant cavity, and, in turn, between the cavity to the qubit, the qubit could only be excited by an electromagnetic pulse if no magnetic excitations were present in the sphere. Reading the state of the qubit then reveals the state of the sphere. By using single-shot detection instead of averaging, they were able to make the device both highly sensitive and […]
Smaller detection device effective for nuclear treaty verification, archaeology digs
Phys.org January 29, 2020 Researchers at MIT describe the Monte Carlo (MC) based design of a compact epithermal Neutron Resonance Transmission Analysis (NRTA) radiographic instrument, which uses a moderated, compact deuterium-tritium neutron source and an epithermal neutron detector. The MC simulations presented in this work demonstrate accurate time-of-flight reconstructions for transmitted neutron energies, capable of differentiating isotopic compositions of nuclear material with high levels of accuracy. A new generation of miniaturized neutron sources will allow this technique to achieve measurements with greater precision and speed, with significant impact on a variety of engineering and societal problems. The instrument would have […]
Molecular Electronics Chip With 100 Million DNA Reading Devices
Next Big Future December 30, 2019 Utilizing advances in semiconductor technology, nano-fabrication and bio-sensors, a company in America has created standard CMOS chips that directly integrate sensor molecules into the CMOS integrated circuits. The current chip is designed to read DNA; future chips will be designed for protein detection and other diverse bio-sensing applications. It reduces whole genome sequencing from days to minutes, through direct electrical sensing delivered at the speed of natural DNA synthesis. Using a single molecule workflow eliminates the time and complexity of sample preparation, delivering ultimate simplicity, speed and lower costs. This also improves the data […]
A fast and inexpensive device to capture and identify viruses
EurekAlert December 23, 2019 Currently, virologists estimate that 1.67 million unknown viruses are in animals, a number of which can be transmitted to humans. A team of researchers in the US (Pennsylvania State University, New York University) synthesized a gradient of aligned carbon nanotube forest arrays to capture different viruses and detect them in-situ Raman spectroscopy to identify the viruses based on their individual vibration. They designed and assembled a portable platform that enriches virus particles from several milliliters of clinical samples in a couple of minutes. They added gold nanoparticles to enhance the Raman signal to detect the virus […]