Discovery reveals role of oxygen impurities in semiconductor properties. A research team probing the properties of a semiconductor combined with a novel thin oxide film have observed a surprising new source of conductivity from oxygen atoms trapped inside. Scott Chambers, a materials scientist at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, reported the team’s discovery at the Spring 2022 meeting of the American Physical Society. The research finding is described in detail in the journal Physical Review Materials. The…
In order to detect water in the polar regions of the Moon, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) has developed a robust laser in the LUVMI-X project. Used in the project partners’ measuring instrument, the system has already been successfully tested on regolith samples. The probability of finding volatiles such as water on the moon is highest in the Polar Regions, as they are frozen. These substances can be detected, for example, using the “laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy” (LIBS) method. To…
A new method for broadband THz–fingerprint Raman spectroscopy at an ultrafast spectral rate enables synchronous measurement of two distinct types of vibrational signals, for dual-region sensitivity. Raman spectroscopy offers a powerful approach to chemical measurement. By directly probing molecular vibrations, it obtains chemical specificity without the need for chemical labels. Thanks to these virtues, it has become an indispensable tool in a diverse range of fields, including materials science, biology, pharmaceuticals, and food science. Broadband Raman vibrational spectra are commonly…
Tightening a string, e.g. when tuning a guitar, makes it vibrate faster. But when strings are nano-sized, increased tension also reduces, or ‘dilutes’, the loss of the string’s vibrational modes. This effect, known as ‘dissipation dilution’, has been exploited to develop mechanical devices for quantum technologies, where engineered, tensioned nanostrings with a thickness of just a few tens of atomic layers oscillate more than ten billion times after being plucked just once. The equivalent on a guitar would be a…
Technology could make it possible to use radio emissions from cell phone networks to wirelessly power sensors and LEDs. Researchers have developed a new metasurface-based antenna that represents an important step toward making it practical to harvest energy from radio waves, such as the ones used in cell phone networks or Bluetooth connections. This technology could potentially provide wireless power to sensors, LEDs and other simple devices with low energy requirements. “By eliminating wired connections and batteries, these antennas could…
Bayreuth biologists explain protein exchange during vertebrate evolution. The electrical synapses in vertebrates are made of different, but by no means more powerful proteins than the electrical synapses in far older invertebrates. Animal physiologists at the University of Bayreuth have now found an explanation for this evolutionary puzzle. In the early phase of vertebrate evolution, there was a loss of diversity in precisely those proteins that had been used for signal transmission in older invertebrates. The scientists have published their…
While voice assistants like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant may be a useful part of everyday life, they are coming under fire from data protection and consumer advocates. The virtual assistants are alleged to collect user data and transfer it to clouds, where it can be transcribed and analyzed by third parties. Now, researchers from the Fraunhofer FIT are putting the issue under the microscope: In a living lab study involving 33 households, they are investigating how much voice assistants…
Methanol reformers convert easy-to-transport methanol into hydrogen. But conventional reformers still come with a number of drawbacks – catalyst attrition, to name but one example. An innovative methanol reformer for mobile applications from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microengineering and Microsystems IMM is able to overcome these challenges. Hydrogen is the beacon of hope for the energy transition, as it is set to sustainably shape both mobility and industrial processes. But at present, there is still limited availability, as transporting hydrogen…
Concrete’s properties as a material have made it an essential part of today’s construction methods. Alongside its many advantages, however, this universal favorite has its share of drawbacks – the most prominent being that its heterogeneous nature makes it difficult to dimension components and structures on the basis of simulations. Cracks induced by bending tests have provided some insights into component behavior. Now, researchers at the Fraunhofer ITWM are developing analysis software designed for computed tomography, with the aim of…
Efficiency rates for production machinery frequently fall far below what technology could achieve. The common reason is experienced employees are not always available when a failure occurs while other employees lack the experience to solve the actual cause. That is where MADDOX comes in. A smart and self-learning assistance system that uses machine learning methods to analyze machine and process data. Via pattern recognition it also searches for similarities in failures and downtimes that occurred in the past. The system…
Large-scale construction projects usually involve extensive coordination. In practice, however, the way in which information is exchanged between construction stakeholders often ends up being an inconsistent multistep process. Now, a consortium project under the technical and scientific leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE is working on a digital solution in the form of the Infra-Bau 4.0 platform, which establishes a network that takes in every stakeholder in an infrastructure project. It provides a means of mapping…
New Research Findings… Coffee sloshing over the rim of a cup: annoying, but bearable. Sloshing fuel in rockets or tankers: more dangerous. Dr. Kerstin Avila from the University of Bremen conducts research on this topic and on turbulence – with success, as two outstanding publications now show. Sloshing coffee is known to many people as an annoying everyday problem that one can and must live with. In engineering, however, such dynamics can have fatal effects. “Sloshing fuel endangers the flight…
Fraunhofer IZM develops integration techniques for cryo-electronics. Quantum technology using superconductors are no longer a vision for the far-off future, but some of the hottest topics in current research. One major challenge remains: The electronic structures used to connect with the quantum parts of the quantum computers, such as qubits on chips, are often far bigger than the qubits themselves. Researchers at Fraunhofer IZM have innovated a process that fits twice as many connectors on the same surface than conventional…
Micro supercapacitors could revolutionise the way we use batteries by increasing their lifespan and enabling extremely fast charging. Manufacturers of everything from smartphones to electric cars are therefore investing heavily into research and development of these electronic components. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a method that represents a breakthrough for how such supercapacitors can be produced. “When discussing new technologies, it is easy to forget how important the manufacturing method is, so that they can…
The introduction of lead-free metal halide powder into a scintillation screen took some tinkering. Once a KAUST team worked out the right technique, they were able to produce an exceptionally efficient, robust and flexible scintillation film to bring significant improvements in medical, industrial and security X-ray imaging. Scintillation materials release visible light, or “scintillate,” in response to absorbing invisible X-ray high-energy photons. They are used to construct digital images that reveal the relative passage and obstruction of X-rays as they…
A clearer ‘picture’ of blood vessels in health and disease thanks to new imaging approach. Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have developed and tested a new imaging approach they say will accelerate imaging-based research in the lab by allowing investigators to capture images of blood vessels at different spatial scales. Tested in mouse tissues, the method, dubbed “VascuViz,” includes a quick-setting polymer mixture to fill blood vessels and make them visible in multiple imaging techniques. The approach enables researchers to visualize…
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