Rice lab finds van der Waals force can deform nanoscale silver for optics, catalytic use. You have to look closely, but the hills are alive with the force of van der Walls. Rice University scientists found that nature’s ubiquitous “weak” force is sufficient to indent rigid nanosheets, extending their potential for use in nanoscale optics or catalytic systems. Changing the shape of nanoscale particles changes their electromagnetic properties, said Matt Jones, the Norman and Gene Hackerman Assistant Professor of Chemistry…
A team of researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim have discovered an exciting method for controlling spin carried by quantized spin wave excitations in antiferromagnetic insulators. Elementary particles carry an intrinsic angular momentum known as their spin. For an electron, the spin can take only two particular values relative to a quantization axis, letting us denote them as spin-up and…
An international research team led by the University of Bern has discovered an exotic binary system composed of two young planet-like objects, orbiting around each other from a very large distance. Although these objects look like giant exoplanets, they formed in the same way as stars, proving that the mechanisms driving star formation can produce rogue worlds in unusual systems deprived of a Sun. Star-forming processes sometimes create mysterious astronomical objects called brown dwarfs, which are smaller and colder than…
Printing with an ink-jet printer is part of daily life, but the same technology finds more complex applications in electronics and in protein separation. These applications, considered futuristic only few decades ago, rely on the quality of the printing process which depends on the flow of the “ink” through narrow pores. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have now revealed the microscopic mechanism governing this flow. The flow of water in a pipe is mainly governed by…
A team of researchers from Russia, the United States, and China led by Skoltech Professor Artem R. Oganov has discovered an unexpected very complex europium hydride, Eu8H46. The paper detailing the discovery has been published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. Superhydrides of rare-earth metals are interesting compounds that form under pressure: some exhibit high-temperature superconductivity that scientists have been chasing for over 100 years, and some possess magnetic properties. Although devoid of superconductivity, europium hydrides are very interesting…
INRS professor Federico Rosei collaborated with an international research team to modify the properties of graphene for its use in electronics. An international research team involving Professor Federico Rosei of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has demonstrated a novel process to modify the structure and properties of graphene, a one atom thick carbon. This chemical reaction, known as photocycloaddition, modifies the bonds between atoms using ultraviolet (UV) light. The results of the study were recently published in…
Strengthening European competitiveness through industrial use of Photonics. A photonics network of pan-European scale will start in January 2021 as part of the EU Horizon 2020 program: The project „Photonics Digital Innovation Hub“– PhotonHub Europe for short – is designed to make small and medium-sized European companies fit for the future by supporting them in the use of photonic technologies. The „PhotonHub Europe“ expects more than 1000 new high-tech jobs and around one billion euros in sales by 2025. The…
All over the world, research into the development of a vaccine against the SARS-CoV2 virus is running at full speed – the breakthroughs of the last few days have made the headlines. Researchers from Fraunhofer EMFT and the University of Regensburg are working on a new assay concept that could speed up the evaluation of vaccine candidates and at the same time increase their significance. The corona pandemic confronts the world community with challenges never seen before. Despite massive restrictions…
Chemists at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have developed a way to integrate liquids directly into materials during the 3D printing process. This allows, for example, active medical agents to be incorporated into pharmaceutical products or luminous liquids to be integrated into materials, which allow monitoring of damage. The study was published in “Advanced Materials Technologies”. 3D printing is now widely used for a range of applications. Generally, however, the method is limited to materials which are liquefied through heat…
In a new study an international research team led by the University of Vienna have shown that structures built around a single layer of graphene allow for strong optical nonlinearities that can convert light. The team achieved this by using nanometer-sized gold ribbons to squeeze light, in the form of plasmons, into atomically-thin graphene. The results, which are published in the Nature Nanotechnology are promising for a new family of ultra-small tunable nonlinear devices. In the last years, a concerted…
Compounds discovered on the shores of the Dead Sea. Phosphorus is an element essential for life. It is fundamental to all living organisms, and is a key component of RNA, DNA, and cell membranes. Phosphorus compounds must have been involved in the emergence of primordial life. Importantly though, these compounds were water soluble and reactive so that they could participate in various chemical processes. Only in this case could phosphorus be involved in phosphorylation, which enables the synthesis of complex…
Electronics are increasingly being paired with optical systems, such as when accessing the internet on an electronically run computer through fiber optic cables. But meshing optics — which relies on particles of light called photons–with electronics–relying on electrons — is challenging, due to their disparate scales. Electrons work at a much smaller scale than light does. The mismatch between electronic systems and optical systems means that every time a signal converts from one to the other, inefficiency creeps into the…
Researchers identify key native plants that stabilize feeding relationships essential for our planet’s health. University of Delaware Professor of Entomology Doug Tallamy published a new research study in Nature that systematically identifies the most critical plants needed to sustain food webs across the United States. Alongside co-authors Kimberley Shropshire and former graduate student Desiree Narango, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the study drills down to the top plants in each county and bioregion, illuminating a…
WSU researchers have used the ancient Japanese art of paper folding to possibly solve a key challenge for outer space travel – how to store and move fuel to rocket engines. The researchers have developed an origami-inspired, folded plastic fuel bladder that doesn’t crack at super cold temperatures and could someday be used to store and pump fuel. Led by graduate student Kjell Westra and Jake Leachman, associate professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, the researchers have…
Researchers led by the University of Tsukuba find that differences in egg structure among stonefly species can provide insight into the evolutionary history of the order. If a creature with eight legs, a large abdomen, and lots of eyes comes crawling your way, even if you have never seen one like it before, you know instinctively that it is a spider. Likewise, an animal with wings, feathers, and a beak is unlikely to be mistaken for anything other than a…
An international team of scientists reports in Nature Photonics on a novel technique for a high-brightness coherent and few-cycle duration source spanning 7 optical octaves from the UV to the THz. Analytical optical methods are vital to our modern society as they permit the fast and secure identification of substances within solids, liquids or gases. These methods rely on light interacting with each of these substances differently at different parts of the optical spectrum. For instance, the ultraviolet range of…
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