Nanowerk October 14, 2020 Researchers in the Netherlands developed a device composed of individual Fe atoms that allows for remote detection of spin dynamics. They have characterized the device and used it to detect the presence of spin waves originating from an excitation induced by the scanning tunneling microscope tip several nanometres away; this may be extended to much longer distances. The device contains a memory element that can be consulted seconds after detection, similar in functionality to e.g. a single photon detector. They performed statistical analysis of the responsiveness to remote spin excitations and corroborated the results using basic […]
Category Archives: Sensors
3D-printed ‘invisible’ fibres can sense breath, sound, and biological cells
Nanowerk October 2, 2020 Researchers in the UK 3D printed the composite fibres which are made from silver and/or semiconducting polymers. It creates a core-shell fibre structure, with a high-purity conducting fibre core wrapped by a thin protective polymer sheath, a few micrometres in diameter. The printing technique can also be used to make biocompatible fibres of a similar dimension to biological cells, which enables them to guide cell movements and ‘feel’ this dynamic process as electrical signals. The sensor was used for testing respiratory conditions such as normal breathing, rapid breathing, and simulated coughing. It significantly outperformed comparable commercial […]
Color-coded biosensor illuminates in real time how viruses attack hosts
Science Daily September 25, 2020 Researchers at the Colorado State University invented a biosensor that lights up blue when viral translation is happening, and green when normal host translation is happening, in single living cells. They have shown this host-attacking process, at the single-molecule level in living cells, and they have reproduced these behaviors in computational models. The models showed that both healthy human RNA and viral RNA fluctuate between states that actively express proteins and those that are silent. The combination of their sensors and computational analyses provide powerful tools to understand, predict, and control how future drugs might […]
Dogs Deployed at Helsinki Airport Can Detect COVID-19 With Almost 100% Accuracy
Science Alert September 25, 2020 The aim of this study by an international team of researchers is to evaluate if the sweat produced by COVID-19 persons has a different odor for trained detection dogs than the sweat produced by non-COVID-19 persons. The study was conducted on 3 sites, following the same protocol procedures, and involved a total of 18 dogs. The percentages of success of the dogs to find the positive sample in a line containing several other negative samples were 100p100 for 4 dogs, and respectively 83p100, 84p100, 90p100 and 94p100 for the others, all significantly different from the […]
Rapid rescue of buried people
Fraunhofer Research October 1, 2020 Researchers in Germany have developed a mobile radar device that can search hectare-sized areas quickly and thoroughly. The new technology combines greater mobility with accurate detection of vital signs. They have developed an algorithm designed to detect irregular heartbeats. The system detects vital signs close to the stationary radar system, successfully putting it to the test at distances of up to 15 meters. In about two years they expect to transition the technology to UAV based applications to reliably detect buried casualties…read more.
Highly sensitive trigger enables rapid detection of biological agents
MIT News September 16, 2020 Researchers at MIT Lincoln Laboratory have developed Rapid Agent Aerosol Detector (RAAD) for the U.S. military’s early warning system for biological warfare agents. It pulls aerosol to cull out the small particles. NIR laser diode creates a structured trigger beam that detects the presence, size, and trajectory of an individual aerosol particle. If the aerosol article is roughly 1 to 10 micrometers a UV laser is activated to illuminate the particle. If the particle seems threat-like, it is vaporized to collect atomic emission to characterize the particle’s elemental content. The steps are integrated into a […]
Single atom-thin platinum makes a great chemical sensor
EurekAlert September 14, 2020 Researchers in Sweden prepared one atom thin, electrically continuous platinum layers by physical vapor deposition on the carbon zero layer (buffer layer) grown epitaxially on silicon carbide. With a thin Pt layer, the electrical conductivity of the metal is strongly modulated when interacting with chemical analytes, due to charges being transferred to/from Pt. The strong interaction with chemical species, together with the scalability of the material, enables the fabrication of chemiresistor devices for electrical read‐out of chemical species with sub part‐per‐billion detection limits. This opens a route for resilient and high sensitivity chemical detection and can […]
Researchers make tiny, yet complex fiber optic force sensor
Phys.org September 8, 2020 Researchers in Slovenia designed sensor consisting of a thin silica diaphragm created at the tip of the fiber. The central part of the diaphragm is extended into a silica pole, which ends with a round-shaped probe or a sensing cylinder. The entire sensor is made of silica glass and has a cylindrical shape with a length of about 800 µm and a diameter of about 105 µm. Force sensing resolution of about 0.6 µN was demonstrated experimentally while providing an unambiguous sensor measurement range of about 0.6 mN. It overcomes the limitations of force sensors and […]
A colorful detector: Crystalline material reversibly changes color when absorbing water
Science Daily August 25, 2020 To ensure safety and efficiency factories often need to be monitored for potentially toxic gasses or even excess humidity. Sensors for water vapor are particularly important for monitoring toxic gasses or even excess humidity. But they may have limited lifetimes or require external power. An international team of researchers (Japan, Spain) formed van der Waals porous crystal (VPC-1) from an aromatic dendrimer containing carbon rings anchored to a dibenzophenazine core. Even though van der Waals forces are usually considered to be relatively weak, the crystal stays together during operation. Upon exposure to water vapor, the […]
New LiDAR Sensor Uses Mirrors to Achieve High Efficiency
IEEE Spectrum August 21, 2020 An international team of researchers (USA – University of Florida, China) designed and fabricated a MEMS mirror specifically designed with direct actuation from the microcontroller. It is powered by a 9-V commercial battery. Instead of a motorized optomechanical scanner, the system relies on MEMS mirrors to control the LiDAR signals. The mirrors require significantly less power to manipulate than the bulkier motorized scanner that have typically been used. A passive infrared sensor ensures that the whole system is only activated when people are present. It may have applications ranging from robotics to small unmanned air […]