Phys.org December 4, 2024 Recent AI language models have shown impressive ability in fact-checking tasks, but how humans interact with fact-checking information provided by these models is unclear. Researchers at Indiana University investigated the impact of fact-checking information generated by a popular large language model (LLM) on belief in and sharing intent of political news headlines in a preregistered randomized control experiment. Although the LLM accurately identified most false headlines (90%), they found that the information did not significantly improve participants’ ability to discern headline accuracy or share accurate news. In contrast, viewing human-generated fact checks enhanced discernment in both […]
Breakthrough anti-counterfeiting tech creates hidden security features in materials
Nanowerk December 5, 2024 An international team of researchers (Republic of Korea, USA – University of Chicago) developed a scalable and cost-efficient method for producing multiplexed plasmonic colors by in situ photoreducing AgNPs within microgel architectures with controlled porosity. They used digital micro-mirror device (DMD)-based flow microlithography system combined with a programmable dithering-mask technique to synthesize shape or barcoded microparticles with large-scale, high-resolution images embedded with hidden multiplexed plasmonic colors. Quantitative agreement was achieved between chemically encrypted and optically decrypted plasmonic colors using a deep learning classifier. According to the researchers their work paves a new way for hidden data […]
Cooperative motion by atoms protects glass from fracturing
Phys.org December 2, 2024 The slow β, or Johari–Goldstein (JG) relaxation process, has been widely observed in glasses and is known to induce the stress relaxation associated with mechanical properties. So far, jumping motions of only a fraction of the particles were believed to contribute to the JG process in glass. However, there is no direct experimental evidence of the atomic-scale images due to the difficulties in microscopic observation. Researchers in Japan observed atomic motions in the quasi-spherical model ionic-glass-former calcium potassium nitrate. The experiment directly indicated that most particles underwent angstrom-scale motions in the time scale of the JG […]
Fast-curing silicone ink opens new doors in 3D printing
Phys.org December 2, 2024 Silicone elastomers have a broad variety of applications in robotics, biomedical devices, and structural metamaterials. The extrusion-based method known as direct ink write (DIW) method is limited to manufacturing mostly planar or pseudo-3D structures, but not feasible for obtaining tall or overhanging structures, or structures comprised by thin walls. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory demonstrated a novel Fast Cure silicone-based ink that enabled manufacturing of complex 3D structures. The Fast Cure ink was a two-part mixture. The silicone structures were produced by inline mixing and coextrusion of a part containing a catalyst (part A) and […]
Infrared detectors made from quantum dots
Nanowerk December 3, 2024 Although hybrid graphene-colloidal PbS quantum dots (QDs) phototransistors are promising to overcome the geometrical restrictions of photodetectors to flat substrates, the experimental demonstration of their application to curved surfaces remains elusive. Researchers in Switzerland demonstrated the seamless integration of an infrared photodetector to a polymer optical fiber (POF), by wrapping graphene around the POF of 1 mm in diameter and, inkjet printing of PbS QDs onto the curved surface. The device acted as a functional coating and detected infrared light propagating through the POF without interrupting the waveguide. The ink supported drop-on-demand, and was colloidally stable […]
Light and symmetry study may offer opportunities for anti-counterfeiting
Phys.org November 29, 2024 An international team of researchers (the Netherlands, Greece) investigated the effect of a mirror-symmetry plane in multiple-scattering media under plane-wave illumination along the symmetry plane. Designed and fabricated samples’ optical transport properties were compared quantitatively with three-dimensional modeling. Strong polarization-dependent deviations of the bulk speckle-averaged intensity distribution at the symmetry plane showed either up to a factor 2 enhancement or complete suppression of the ensemble-averaged intensities. According to the researchers their work could have application in counterfeiting… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Microscopy at the tip of a hair-thin optical fiber: New approach pre-shapes light for unprecedented control
Phys.org December 3, 2024 Light transmission through a multimode fiber (MMF) has gained major importance for imaging and manipulation. Most phase retrieval algorithms used for a MMF implicitly assume light propagation to be described by a unitary operation, yet the transmission matrix of a multimode fiber is inherently non-unitary. An international team of researchers (UK, Australia) demonstrated that this assumption could impede the performance of many commonly used MMF phase retrieval algorithms and demonstrated that the weighted Yang–Gu algorithm outperformed other phase retrieval algorithms in this scenario. Once accounted for, the non-unitary property of the transmission matrix could be leveraged […]
New spin quantum battery can be charged without an external field
Phys.org November 30, 2024 Researchers in Italy investigated the performance of a one-dimensional dimerized chain as a spin quantum battery. Integrable model showed a rich quantum phase diagram that emerged through a mapping of the spins onto auxiliary fermionic degrees of freedom. They used a charging protocol relying on the double quench of an internal parameter, the strength of the dimerization, and addressed the energy stored in the systems. They observed three distinct regimes, depending on the timescale characterizing the duration of the charging: a short-time regime related to the dynamics of the single dimers, a long-time regime related to […]
Photonic processor could enable ultrafast AI computations with extreme energy efficiency
MIT News December 2, 2024 Optical systems can perform linear matrix operations at an exceptionally high rate and efficiency. However, demonstrating coherent, ultralow-latency optical processing of deep neural networks has remained an outstanding challenge. A team of researchers in the US (MIT, industries) realized such a system in a scalable photonic integrated circuit that monolithically integrated multiple coherent optical processor units for matrix algebra and nonlinear activation functions into a single chip and experimentally demonstrated fully integrated coherent optical neural network architecture for a deep neural network with six neurons and three layers that optically computed both linear and nonlinear […]
Researchers demonstrate self-assembling electronics
Nanowerk December 2, 2024 Conventional multi-scale array fabrication techniques are facing challenges in reconciling the contradiction between better device performance and lowering the fabrication cost and/or energy consumption. A team of researchers in the US (North Carolina State University, Iowa State University) used facile mixed-metal array fabrication method based on guided self-assembly of polymerizing organometallic adducts derived from the passivating oxides of a ternary liquid metal, to create mixed metal wires. They fabricated large-area, high-quality organometallic nano- to micro-wire arrays without compromising wire continuity or array periodicity. Using capillary bridges on a preceding layer, they made hierarchical arrays with complex […]