Dec 16, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Whispering gallery modes (WGMs) are quite common in acoustics and optics. They denote the guided waves circulating along a concave surface, the seminal example being the whispering galleries of St. Paul’s cathedral: someone whispering on one side of the gallery can be heard all along...
Demonstrating Feshbach resonances between a single ion and ultracold atoms
Dec 16, 2021 (Nanowerk News) A team led by Prof. Dr. Tobias Schätz, Professor of Atomic and Quantum Physics at the Institute of Physics at the University of Freiburg, Dr. Pascal Weckesser, Fabian Thielemann and colleagues, demonstrate magnetic Feshbach resonances between a single barium ion and lithium atoms at near...
Magnetic tunnel junction technology for the Angstrom semiconductor era
Dec 15, 2021 (Nanowerk News) A research group at Tohoku University has shown that fast switching down to 3.5 ns in sub-five-nm ultra-small magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) can be achieved by engineering relaxation time, which governs fast magnetization dynamics (IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, "Fast Switching Down to 3.5 ns...
Understanding phase change materials for thermal energy storage
Dec 15, 2021 (Nanowerk News) As the world searches for practical ways to decarbonize our activities and mitigate associated climate change, approaches to alternative energy are hampered by the intermittent nature of energy sources, such as solar and wind. One possible solution to help boost reliability and adoption of such...
E-waste recycling emits emerging synthetic antioxidants
Dec 15, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Manufacturers add synthetic antioxidants to plastics, rubbers and other polymers to make them last longer. However, the health effects of these compounds, and how readily they migrate into the environment, are largely unknown. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters ("Massive Emissions...
How to transform vacancies into quantum information
Dec 15, 2021 (Nanowerk News) “Vacancy” is a sign you want to see when searching for a hotel room on a road trip. When it comes to quantum materials, vacancies are also something you want to see. Scientists create them by removing atoms in crystalline materials. Such vacancies can serve...
Shape-morphing microrobots deliver drugs to cancer cells (w/video)
Dec 15, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Chemotherapy successfully treats many forms of cancer, but the side effects can wreak havoc on the rest of the body. Delivering drugs directly to cancer cells could help reduce these unpleasant symptoms. Now, in a proof-of-concept study, researchers reporting in ACS Nano ("Environmentally Adaptive Shape-Morphing...
New algorithm drives use of AI in material sciences
Dec 15, 2021 (Nanowerk News) The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in classical sciences such as chemistry, physics, or mathematics remains largely uncharted territory. Researchers from the Berlin Institute for the Foundation of Learning and Data (BIFOLD) at TU Berlin and Google Research have successfully developed an algorithm to precisely...
Scientists create stable materials for more efficient solar cells
Dec 15, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Researchers from Queen Mary University of London have developed a new process for producing stable perovskite materials to create more efficient solar cells. Crystalline silicon is the most widely used material for solar cells. However, over the last decade, perovskite solar cells, made from metal...
Flawed diamonds may provide perfect interface for quantum computers
Dec 15, 2021 (Nanowerk News) Flaws in diamonds — atomic defects where carbon is replaced by nitrogen or another element — may offer a close-to-perfect interface for quantum computing, a proposed communications exchange that promises to be faster and more secure than current methods. There’s one major problem, though: these...