Shaping the hilly landscapes of a semi-conductor nanoworld

Nanoscale worlds sometimes resemble macroscale roller-coaster style hills, placed at the tip of a series of hexagons. Surprisingly, these nanohills stem from the self-organisation of particles - the very particles that have been eroded and subsequently redeposited following the bombardment of semi-conductors...
read more "Shaping the hilly landscapes of a semi-conductor nanoworld"

Plasmonic material could bring ultrafast all-optical communications

Researchers have created a new "plasmonic oxide material" that could make possible devices for optical communications that are at least 10 times faster than conventional technologies. In optical communications, laser pulses are used to transmit information along fiber-optic cables for telephone service, the Internet and cable television. Researchers...
read more "Plasmonic material could bring ultrafast all-optical communications"

How to look for a few good catalysts

Two key physical phenomena take place at the surfaces of materials: catalysis and wetting. A catalyst enhances the rate of chemical reactions; wetting refers to how liquids spread across a surface. Now researchers at MIT and other institutions have found that these two processes, which had been considered unrelated, are in fact closely linked. The...
read more "How to look for a few good catalysts"