Nano News

How to make large 2-D sheets

Sheets of graphene and other materials that are virtually two-dimensional hold great promise for electronic, optical, and other high-tech applications. But the biggest limitation in unleashing this potential has been figuring out how to make these materials in the form of anything larger than tiny flakes. Now researchers at MIT and elsewhere may have...

Nano-thin invisibility cloak makes 3D objects disappear (w/video)

Invisibility cloaks are a staple of science fiction and fantasy, from Star Trek to Harry Potter, but don't exist in real life, or do they? Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have devised an ultra-thin invisibility "skin" cloak that can...

New diamond structures produce bright luminescence for quantum cryotography and biomarkers applications

Germanium defects in a diamond crystal lattice act as a reliable source for single photons, new research shows. The results are reported in ("Germanium-Vacancy Single Color Centers in Diamond") and provide a promising new route to building components for quantum cryptography and biomarkers. Pure diamonds are naturally colorless, but gaps in the crystal...

Carbyne research may boost nanoelectronics

The smallest of electronics could one day have the ability to turn on and off at an atomic scale. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists have investigated a way to create linear chains of carbon atoms from laser-melted graphite ("Carbyne Fiber Synthesis within Evaporating Metallic Liquid Carbon"). The material, called carbyne, could have...

Laser ablation boosts terahertz emission

From almost instantaneous wireless transfer of huge amounts of data and easy detection of explosives, weapons, or harmful gases, to safe 3-D medical imaging and new advances in spectroscopy —technologies based on terahertz (THz) radiation, the electro-magnetic band with wavelengths from 0.1 to 1 mm, can transform science fiction into reality. However,...

Identification of atomic species at the surface of anatase titanium dioxide by SPM

A NIMS research team successfully identified the atoms and common defects existing at the most stable surface of the anatase form of titanium dioxide by characterizing this material at the atomic scale with scanning probe microscopy. This work was published under an open access policy in the online version of ("Atomic species identification at the...

Hierarchies in matter

A single neuron in isolation cannot be said to possess memory, feelings, or consciousness. However, group many neurons together and the type of advanced information processing that takes place in the human brain suddenly appears. This suggests that perhaps each level in the micro-macro hierarchy can only be understood with a different logic. Might...