Nanowerk September 26, 2023 Researchers in Finland developed a way to turn a waste material from wood into a bio-based transparent film that can be used for anti-fogging or anti-reflective coatings on glasses or vehicle windows. They prepared optically clear lignin nanoparticle dispersions from acetylated lignin. Thin lignin nanoparticle films remained transparent when deposited on glass and other smooth surfaces, and monolayered particle films provided effective antifogging properties. The particles could also be used to prepare multilayered films with bright structural colors that could be controlled via the film-thickness and were retained in dry conditions. They also developed an improved […]
Tag Archives: S&T Finland
Research group detects a quantum entanglement wave for the first time using real-space measurements
Science Daily August 23, 2023 Quantum magnets provide a powerful platform to explore complex quantum many-body phenomena. One example is triplon excitations, exotic many-body modes emerging from propagating singlet-triplet transitions. Researchers in Finland engineered a minimal quantum magnet from organic molecules and demonstrated the emergence of dispersive triplon modes in one- and two-dimensional assemblies probed with scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. According to the researchers their results provide the first demonstration of dispersive triplon excitations from a real-space measurement… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
From light to motion: Shaping surfaces with light
Nanowerk August 12, 2023 Using confocal microscopy researchers in Finland characterized dynamic photoinduced wrinkle erasure enabled by photomechanical changes in supramolecular polymer-azo complexes. Different photoactive molecules were compared to 4-hydroxy-4′-dimethylaminoazobenzene (OH-azo-DMA). The characteristic erasure times of wrinkles were assessed by using an image processing algorithm. The results confirmed that the photoinduced movement on the topmost layer could be successfully transferred to the substrate. Furthermore, the chosen supramolecular strategy allowed decoupling the effect of molecular weight of the polymer and photochemistry of the chromophore, allowing quantitative comparison of wrinkling erasure efficiency of different materials and providing a facile way to optimize […]
Physicists demonstrate how sound can be transmitted through vacuum
Phys.org August 9, 2023 The mechanical displacements in piezoelectric materials carry along macroscopic electric fields, allowing tunneling of acoustic waves across a vacuum gap beyond the charge-charge interaction distance. However, no rigorous proof of complete acoustic wave tunneling has been presented, and the conditions to achieve complete tunneling have not been identified. Researchers in Finland demonstrated analytically the condition for such phenomenon for arbitrary anisotropic crystal symmetries and orientations, and that complete transmission of the incoming wave occurred at the excitation frequency of leaky surface waves. They also showed that the complete transmission condition could be related to the surface […]
Physicists Discover a New Way to ‘See’ Objects Without Looking at Them
Science Alert December 29, 2022 Instead of lasers and mirrors, researchers in Finland proposed the concept of coherent interaction-free detection and demonstrated it experimentally using a three-level superconducting transmon circuit to detect an electromagnetic wave pulsed into a chamber. They showed that it is possible to ascertain the presence of a microwave pulse resonant with the second transition of the transmon, while at the same time avoid exciting the device onto the third level. Experimentally, this was done by using a series of Ramsey microwave pulses coupled into the first transition and monitoring the ground-state population. The protocol can be […]
Next generation material that adapts to its history
Nanowerk November 15, 2022 The responses of living systems dynamically adapt based on the repetition, intensity, and history of stimuli. Such plasticity is ubiquitous in biology, which is profoundly linked to memory and learning. Inspired by living systems, researchers in Finland synthesised micrometre-sized magnetic beads which were then stimulated by a magnetic field. When the magnet was on, the beads stacked up to form pillars. The strength of the magnetic field affects the shape of the pillars, which in turn affects how well they conduct electricity. When they exposed the beads to a quickly pulsing magnetic field, the material became […]
Unimon – A new qubit to boost quantum computers for useful applications
Nanowerk November 15, 2022 Superconducting qubits seem promising for useful quantum computers, but the currently wide-spread qubit designs and techniques do not yet provide high enough performance. Researchers in Finland have developed a superconducting-qubit type, the unimon, which combines the desired properties of increased anharmonicity, full insensitivity to dc charge noise, reduced sensitivity to flux noise, and a simple structure consisting only of a single Josephson junction in a resonator. In agreement with their quantum models, they measured the qubit frequency and increased anharmonicity at the optimal operation point. It yielded, 99.9% and 99.8% fidelity for 13 ns single-qubit gates on […]
The handedness of light holds the key to better optical control
Phys.org July 18, 2022 Current optical modulators used to manipulate the properties of a beam of light mainly use electrical or acoustic effects. These technologies can control the properties of light at nanosecond speeds. Researchers in Finland have developed an all-optical modulator technique which uses a coherent optical process. It can work at femtosecond speeds. They experimentally validated the concept in monolayer materials (MoS2) with modulation depth approaching ~100%, ultra-fast modulation speed (<~130 fs), and wavelength-independence features. The power and polarization of the incident optical beams can be used to tune the output chirality and modulation performance. According to the researchers […]
The limits of vision: Seeing shadows in the dark
Science Daily May 23, 2022 Mice use a specific neural pathway to detect shadows, and it can detect just about the dimmest shadows possible. The human eye has the same neural circuit, which researchers in Finland think could be used to probe visual diseases at unprecedented resolution. To test shadow detection, the researchers put mice in a maze with nearly no light. The exit was marked by a black spot, just barely distinct from the surrounding darkness. By tracking how the mice moved through the maze and measuring the activity of neurons at the back of the eye the team […]
Washable and recyclable solar cell-infused textiles
Nanowerk May 21, 2022 Researchers in Finland laminated a solar cell component between textiles in a water-tight polyurethane film to make the component machine-washable. The textiles containing the solar cell component were then washed dozens of times. Five of the eight samples retained their efficiency, and three lost about 20 percent of their power. None of the cells or the textiles were damaged during the process. They used textiles whose fibers were made of only a single material and thus could be recycled as efficiently as possible. Electronic components can be removed from the fabric simply by first applying heat […]