Phys.org June 28, 2018 Researchers at UCLA laid strips of graphene over a silicon dioxide layer, which itself covers a base of silicon. Then, they created a series of comb-like nanoscale patterns, made of gold, with “teeth” about 100 nanometers wide. The graphene acts as a net to catch incoming photons and then convert them into an electrical signal. The gold comb-shaped nanopatterns transfer the information to a processor, which produces a corresponding high-quality image, even under low-light conditions. The design enables operation across a broad range of light, quicker processing of images and provides greater sensitivity to lower levels […]
Category Archives: Sensors
Engineer creates new design for ultra-thin capacitive sensors
Science Daily June 26, 2018 Being able to move with the air is how sensors can tell when a sound is present and which direction it is coming from. Researchers at SUNY Binghamton have developed a new platform that provides a way to detect the motion of extremely thin fibers or films by sensing changes in an electric field without the use of a magnet. The sensor has a nearly constant potential energy but can also return to its equilibrium after large motions… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Russian scientists created ‘flying’ gas chromatograph
Eurekalert June 18, 2018 The portable gas microchromatograph developed by researchers in Russia weighs a little more than a kilogram and it completely replaces bulky laboratory devices. It can provide accurate data on the composition of the atmosphere, qualitative and quantitative composition of oil and gas, as well as analyse biomarkers in exhaled human air within a few minutes. It can perform an operational analysis of the state of the atmosphere at altitudes of up to 1000 meters and within a radius of 2 km from the source, record and track the level of concentration of substances in the air […]
A nanotech sensor that turns molecular fingerprints into bar codes
Eurekalert June 7, 2018 The system developed by an international team of researchers (Switzerland, Australia) consists of an engineered surface covered with hundreds of tiny sensors (metapixels) each one resonating at a different frequency. Different vibrational frequencies are mapped to different areas on the surface which creates a pixelated map of light absorption that can be translated into a molecular bar code – all without using a spectrometer. They have used the system to detect polymers, pesticides and organic compounds. It is highly sensitive and generates bar codes even with broadband light sources and detectors. Applications include portable medical testing […]
A fresh sensation in sensing technology
Phys.org June 01, 2018 In optical fiber sensor networks a fiber Bragg grating is one of the key sensor devices used because of compactness and immunity to electromagnetic interference. But their sensitivity is not always satisfactory. Researchers in Japan have developed an inexpensive super spectral resolution method for multi-channel spectrometers to conventional interrogators for optical fiber sensing. The technology may find applications in IoT… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Magnetic Cloak Without Superconductors
American Physical Society Synopsys May 29, 2018 Magnetic cloaks typically use superconducting materials, which must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures. An international team of researchers (China, Sweden) has built a room-temperature cloak that does not employ superconductors. Such a cloak could be useful in shielding sensitive devices from external magnetic fields. Their cloak consists of a hollow cylinder made of several foils of a high-magnetic-permeability material with copper wires running along the cylinder’s length. When currents pass through the wires shields the interior of the cylinder from external magnetic fields. Experiments demonstrated that the device works at room temperature for […]
Improving mid-infrared imaging and sensing
Eurekalert April 26, 2018 Making use of a mid-infrared femtosecond laser coupled with a parametric amplifier, an international team of researchers (MIT, UMass Lowell, China) developed a system that turns regions of molecules in the open air into glowing filaments of plasma. They proved that it did indeed work as expected. It opens the potential for detecting a very wide range of compounds in the air, from a distance. The system can detect various biohazards and pollutants by detecting the exact color of the filament and analyzing the absorption spectrum… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
For nuclear weapons reduction, a way to verify without revealing
Science Daily April 19, 2018 Researchers at MIT present a concept that leverages isotope-specific nuclear resonance phenomena to authenticate a warhead’s fissile components by comparing them to a previously authenticated template. All information is encrypted in the physical domain in a manner that amounts to a physical zero-knowledge proof system. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the system is shown to reveal no isotopic or geometric information about the weapon, while readily detecting hoaxing attempts. The method is a physical analog of data encryption. The team has verified the neutron concept through extensive simulations and now hopes to prove that it works […]
Invisible magnetic sensors measure magnetic fields without disturbing them
Phys.org April 25, 2018 Researchers in Spain present a general strategy on how to make a sensor magnetically invisible while keeping its ability to sense. The sensor is rendered undetectable by surrounding it with a spherical shell having a tailored magnetic permeability. The method can be applied to arbitrary shape magnetic sensors in arbitrary magnetic fields. The invisibility can be made exact when the sensor is spherical, and the probed field is uniform. They are exploring cloaking properties for AC fields or incorporating the intriguing concept of negative static permeability for creating novel shapes of magnetic fields… read more. Open […]
Portable device to sniff out trapped humans
Science Daily April 18, 2018 An international team of researchers (Switzerland, Austria, Cyprus) presents a pilot study with compact and orthogonal sensor arrays to detect the breath- and skin-emitted metabolic tracers acetone, ammonia, isoprene, CO2, and relative humidity, all together serving as sign of life. It consists of three nanostructured metal-oxide sensors (Si-doped WO3, Si-doped MoO3, and Ti-doped ZnO), each specifically tailored at the nanoscale for highly sensitive and selective tracer detection along with commercial CO2 and humidity sensors. When tested on humans enclosed in plethysmography chambers to simulate entrapment, this sensor array rapidly detected sub-ppm acetone, ammonia, and isoprene […]