Science Daily December 2, 2019 The cumulative damage from the sun tends to erode efficiency of a new class of solar cells that utilizes layers of carbon-based polymers. Based on the results of current-voltage curves, impedance spectroscopy, and UV-VIS spectrophotometry, researchers in Japan have determined that exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet light can damage the fragile organic molecules in the semiconducting layer just like it damages human skin. When some sulfur atoms in the materials get replaced by oxygen atoms from the atmosphere, the molecules no longer function as intended. The degradation products from solar damage increased the electrical resistance […]
Tag Archives: S&T Japan
First Demonstration of a 1 Petabit per Second Network Node
National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, October 17, 2019 Researchers in Japan have successfully implemented a network demonstration using state-of-the-art large-scale spatial optical switching, aiming at petabit-class next-generation optical networks using spatial-division multiplexing. The testbed supported data rates from 10 Terabit per second up to 1 Petabit per second over 3 types of next-generation multicore fibers and included practical requirements of real networks, such as protection switching. The total capacity of the network was 1 Petabit per second. The system was demonstrated in 4 fundamental scenarios that constitute the building blocks of the next-generation optical fiber networks…read more.
Japan Imports Ebola And Other Deadly Pathogens in The Lead-Up to Tokyo Olympics
Science Alert October 17, 2019 Strains of the infectious virus along with four other dangerous pathogens were brought into the country last month by the Japanese government, so that scientists can study them and research possible countermeasures in the event of an outbreak sparked by the Tokyo 2020 tourist influx. Japan’s ability to study the most dangerous pathogens has lagged behind that of other advanced nations. There is one facility in the country operating at BSL 4 level. Both the United States and Europe have more than a dozen BSL-4 labs in operation or under construction, and China is building […]
Development of highly sensitive diode, converts microwaves to electricity
Science Daily September 26, 2019 Researchers in Japan have developed a highly sensitive rectifying element in the form of a nanowire backward diode, which can covert low-power microwaves into electricity. Equipment they used consists of a radio wave power generating element. The technology can efficiently convert 100nW-class low-power radio waves into electricity, enabling the conversion of microwaves emitted into the environment from mobile phone base stations in an area that is over 10 times greater than was previously possible. The researchers expect that the nanowire backward diode will be applied in using plentiful ambient radio wave energy in 5G communications, […]
Scientists develop DNA microcapsules with built-in ion channels
Science Daily September 18, 2019 By utilising DNA nanotechnology, a team of researchers in Japan designed DNA nanoplates as a nanopore device for ion transportation and stabilised the oil–water interface. Microscopic examination revealed the microcapsule formed by the accumulation of amphiphilic DNA nanoplates at the oil–water interface. Ion current measurements revealed the nanoplate pores functioned as channel to transport ions. These findings provide a general strategy for the programmable design of microcapsules to engineer artificial cells and molecular robots. Such systems could be used to develop artificial neural networks…read more. TECHINCAL ARTICLE
Every transistor has a unique quantum fingerprint—but can it be used as a form of ID?
Phys.org July 26, 2019 In nanoelectronics the single-electron effect caused by traps are randomly distributed and not controllable therefore, different current–voltage characteristics are observed through traps even in silicon transistors having the same device parameters. Researchers in Japan analyzed the single-electron effect of traps in conventional silicon transistors. At sufficiently low temperatures at which single-electron effects can be observed (in this case, 1.54 K), they showed that current–voltage characteristics can be used as fingerprints of chips through image recognition algorithms. These results show that single-electron effects can provide a quantum version of a physically unclonable function (PUF). They retain their key […]
Mechanical vibration generated by electron spins
EurekAlert July 2, 2019 Researchers in Japan fabricated a micro cantilever structure made of magnetic insulator yttrium iron garnet (YIG: Y3Fe5O12). A metallic thin wire was put on the root of the cantilever as a heater. When electrical current flows in the wire, the wire works as a generator of spin current by spin Seebeck effect and the spin current propagates into the micro cantilever. By measuring the vibration of the cantilever while injecting the spin current modulated near the resonant frequency of the micro cantilever, they confirmed that only the spin current injection of appropriate spin orientation can excite […]
A new ‘golden’ age for electronics?
Science Daily June 25, 2019 One way that heat damages electronic equipment is by making components expand at different rates, resulting in forces that cause micro-cracking and distortion. The valence fluctuations of Sm in samarium monosulfide (SmS) are known to induce possible large isotropic negative thermal expansion (NTE). Researchers in Japan prepared Ce-doped and Nd-doped SmS polycrystalline samples using a simpler method with much lower reaction temperature than the existing method. Typically, Sm0.80Ce0.20S exhibits giant NTE with total volume change of 2.6% in the wide temperature range from 330 K to 100 K, the lowest covered here. This research opens a new […]
Researchers teleport information within a diamond
EurekAlert June 28, 2019 Researchers in Japan have demonstrated quantum state transfer of photon polarization into a carbon isotope nuclear spin coupled to a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond based on photon-electron Bell state measurement by photon absorption. The carbon spin is first entangled with the electron spin, which is then permitted to absorb a photon into a spin-orbit correlated eigenstate. Detection of the electron after relaxation into the spin ground state allows post-selected transfer of arbitrary photon polarization into the carbon memory. The study has big implications for quantum information technology…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Plumbene, graphene’s latest cousin, realized on the ‘nano water cube’
EurekAlert May 23, 2019 Plumbene is a lead-based 2D honeycomb material that has the largest spin-orbit interaction, due to lead’s orbital electron structure and therefore the largest energy band gap, potentially making it a robust 2D topological insulator in which the Quantum Spin Hall Effect might occur even above room temperature. An international team of researchers (Japan, France) created plumbene by annealing an ultrathin lead (Pb) film on palladium Pd(111). The resulting surface material has the signature honeycomb structure of a 2D monolayer. Beneath the plumbene, a palladium-lead (Pd-Pb) alloy thin film forms with a bubble structure. Atomic‐scale STM images […]