In a world-first achievement published in ("An anisotropic hydrogel with electrostatic repulsion between cofacially aligned nanosheets"), scientists from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science in Japan, along with colleagues from the National Institute of Material Science and the University of...
Review of studies on exotic superfluids in spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases
Ultracold atomic gases have been widely considered as ideal platforms for quantum simulation. Thanks to the clean environment and the highly tunable parameters in these systems, many interesting physical models can be simulated using cold atomic gases, and various novel many-body states have been prepared and probed experimentally. The recent experimental...
Introducing Graphene Study 2015
As part of its extensive education and outreach activities, Europe’s Graphene Flagship will soon stage a second Graphene Study week. This will take place from 23-28 March 2015 in Kaprun, a small town in the alpine Pinzgau region of Austria. Graphene Study brings together research students working on graphene and related two-dimensional materials...
A qubit candidate shines brighter
In the race to design the world's first universal quantum computer, a special kind of diamond defect called a nitrogen vacancy (NV) center is playing a big role. NV centers consist of a nitrogen atom and a vacant site that together replace two adjacent carbon atoms in diamond crystal. The defects can record or store quantum information and transmit...
Study unveils new half-light half-matter quantum particles
Prospects of developing computing and communication technologies based on quantum properties of light and matter may have taken a major step forward thanks to research by City College of New York physicists led by Dr. Vinod Menon. In a pioneering study ("Strong light–matter coupling in two-dimensional...
Gummy bears under antiparticle fire
Gelatin is used in the pharmaceutical industry to encapsulate active agents. It protects against oxidation and overly quick release. Nanopores in the material have a significant influence on this, yet they are difficult to investigate. In experiments on gummy bears, researchers at Technische Universität München (TUM) have now transferred a methodology...
Magnetic vortices: Controlling core switching in Pac-man disks
Magnetic vortices in thin films can encode information in the perpendicular magnetization pointing up or down relative to the vortex core. These binary states could be useful for non-volatile data storage devices such as RAM memories, but the switching between them must be fast and energy-efficient. However, despite many efforts switching is still...
Innovative nanophotonics: Integrating quantum light sources with nanofibers for quantum internet applications
"I had the idea for 'nanofiber quantum photonics' about 14 years ago," says Kohzo Hakuta, Director of the Center for Photonic Innovations at the University of Electro-Communications (UEC). "I want to integrate quantum light sources e.g. single quantum dot / single atom, into specially designed nanofibers. This 'fiber in-line technology' holds the potential...
Getting into your head: Gelatin nanoparticles could deliver drugs to the brain
Stroke victims could have more time to seek treatment that could reduce harmful effects on the brain, thanks to tiny blobs of gelatin that could deliver the medication to the brain noninvasively. University of Illinois researchers and colleagues in South Korea, led by U. of I. electrical and computer engineering senior research scientist Hyungsoo Choi...
Graphene offers X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy a window of opportunity
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is one of the most sensitive and informative surface analysis techniques available. However, XPS requires a high vacuum to operate, which makes analyzing materials in liquid and gaseous environments difficult. Now, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), ELETTRA (Italy) and...
Crafting ultrathin color coatings
In a sub-basement deep below the Laboratory for Integrated Science and Engineering at Harvard University, Mikhail Kats gets dressed. Mesh shoe covers, a face mask, a hair net, a pale gray jumpsuit, knee-high fabric boots, vinyl gloves, safety goggles, and a hood with clasps at the collar—these are not to protect him, Kats explains, but to protect the...
Trapping light with a twister
Researchers at MIT who succeeded last year in creating a material that could trap light and stop it in its tracks have now developed a more fundamental understanding of the process. The new work — which could help explain some basic physical mechanisms — reveals that this behavior is connected to a wide range of other seemingly unrelated phenomena....
Iridium nanoparticles resist deactivation in biofuel production
Steam reforming turns methane from biomass into a mixture that can be further converted into transportation fuels. By combining experimental and theoretical approaches, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Institute for Integrated Catalysis determined key properties of potentially...
Rätsel des platinarmen Nanokatalysators geklärt
Neuartige Nanopartikel-Katalysatoren könnten die Kosten für Brennstoffzellen dramatisch reduzieren. Ein von Berliner und Jülicher Forschern entwickelter Katalysator kommt mit einem Zehntel der üblichen Platinmenge aus. Doch wie die oktaedrische Form der Partikel und die besondere Verteilung der Elemente zustande kommen, war bisher unklar. Mithilfe...
Van der Waals epitaxy and photoresponse of hexagonal tellurium nanoplates on flexible mica sheets
Van der Waals epitaxy (vdWE) has recently been identified as a facile synthesis technique in the growth of ultrathin two dimensional (2D) layered materials and their vertical heterostructures. Unlike conventional heteroepitaxy, vdWE utilizes substrates whose surface is chemically inert because of the absence of surface dangling bonds such as fluorophlogopite...
Nanosensoren für Herz und Hirn
16 Arbeitsgruppen der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU), des Universitätsklinikums Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) und des Fraunhofer Instituts für Siliziumtechnik (ISIT) erforschen zukünftig gemeinsam neuartige Sensoren für die medizinische Diagnostik. Damit sollen über winzigste Magnetfelder Gehirn- und Herzfunktionen aufgezeichnet werden....
Quantum world without queues could lead to better solar cells
In a recent study ("Coherent two-dimensional photocurrent spectroscopy in a PbS quantum dot photocell") from Lund University in Sweden, researchers have used new technology to study extremely fast processes in solar cells. The research results form a concrete step towards more efficient solar cells....
Skyrmions like it hot
A simulation study by researchers from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science has demonstrated the feasibility of using lasers to create and manipulate nanoscale magnetic vortices ("Creation of skyrmions and antiskyrmions by local heating"). The ability to create and control these ‘skyrmions’ could lead to the development of skyrmion-based information...
Gold nanorods target cancer cells
Using tiny gold nanorods, researchers at Swinburne University of Technology have demonstrated a potential breakthrough in cancer therapy. They have shown for the first time that gold nanorods can be used to inhibit cancer cell growth in cervical cancer. Laser confocal scattering image of a HeLa cells cultured with EGF-Nanospheres" border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u38Z99oYm_9FSuak3LKcuB8OPAaQHRJP_fanKAHvp05BOe_aKOy0I8tIxldsIGnBqp7pNd0b9dSg=s0-d">...
New sensor could improve one of nanotechnology's most useful microscopes
Spotting molecule-sized features—common in computer circuits and nanoscale devices—may become both easier and more accurate with a sensor developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). With their new design, NIST scientists may have found a way to sidestep some of the problems in calibrating atomic force microscopes (AFMs)....
EU publishes nanomaterial guidance for employers and workers
This Guidance document offers an overview of the issues surrounding the safe use of manufactured nanomaterials in the workplace, sets out the broad outlines of preventive action and provides a practical tool for complying with specific aspects of ensuring workers’ safety, such as risk assessment and...
Discovery opens door for radical reduction in energy consumed by digital devices
An article in ("Negative capacitance in a ferroelectric capacitor") describes the first direct observation of a long-hypothesized but elusive phenomenon called “negative capacitance.” The work describes a unique reaction of electrical charge to applied voltage in a ferroelectric material that could open the door to a radical reduction in the power...
A gold nanocatalyst for clear water
A new catalyst could have dramatic environmental benefits if it can live up to its potential, suggests research from Singapore. A*STAR researchers have produced a catalyst with gold-nanoparticle antennas that can improve water quality in daylight and also generate hydrogen as a green energy source ("Novel Au/La-SrTiO3 microspheres: Superimposed Effect...
Pyramid nanoscale antennas beam light up and down
Researchers from FOM Institute AMOLF and Philips Research have designed and fabricated a new type of nanoscale antenna. The new antennas look like pyramids, rather than the more commonly used straight pillars. The pyramid shape enhances the interference between the magnetic and electric fields of light. This makes the pyramid-shaped antenna capable...
Researchers create 'green' process to reduce molecular switching waste
Dartmouth researchers have found a solution using visible light to reduce waste produced in chemically activated molecular switches, opening the way for industrial applications of nanotechnology ranging from anti-cancer drug delivery to LCD displays and molecular motors. The study appears in the ("Waste...
Self-repairing subsea material
Embryonic faults in subsea high voltage installations are difficult to detect and very expensive to repair. Researchers believe that self-repairing materials could be the answer. The vital insulating material which encloses sensitive high voltage equipment may now be getting some 'first aid'. "We have preliminary results indicating that this is a promising...
Broadband graphene optical modulator on silicon
At this week’s IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM 2014), nanoelectronics research center imec and its associated lab at Ghent University have demonstrated the industry’s first integrated graphene optical electro-absorption modulator (EAM) capable of 10Gb/s modulation speed. Combining...
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