Yale researchers’ technology turns wasted heat into power

It is estimated that recoverable waste heat in the U.S. alone could power tens of millions of homes. Although existing technologies can reuse high-temperature heat or convert it to electricity, it is difficult to efficiently extract energy from low-temperature heat waste due to the small temperature difference between the plant’s heat discharge and the surrounding environment. Additionally, conventional

Russian physicists create a high-precision 'quantum ruler'

Russian physicists create a high-precision 'quantum ruler': Physicists have devised a method for creating a special quantum entangled state."This technique will enable us to use quantum effects to increase the accuracy of measuring the distance between observers that are separated from one another by a medium with losses. In this type of medium, quantum features of light are easily destroyed," says

Superheroes are real: Ultrasensitive nonlinear metamaterials for data transfer

An international team of scientists led by MSU researchers for the first time managed to demonstrate the effect of all-optical switching between streams of photons, born during the third harmonic generation process. According to Maxim Scherbakov, the researcher of the Laboratory of Nanophotonic metamaterials, Moscow State University, the work will make it possible to use the

Coexistence of superconductivity and charge density waves observed

High-Tc superconductors were discovered 30 years ago: A class of ceramic metal oxide materials was found to pass electrical current without energy losses. In contrast to conventional superconductors that have to be cooled almost to absolute zero, this property appears already at comparably high temperatures. In prototypical yttrium barium copper oxide (YBaCuO), the transition temperature is 92

Nanoscientists develop the 'ultimate discovery tool'

The discovery power of the gene chip is coming to nanotechnology. A Northwestern University research team is developing a tool to rapidly test millions and perhaps even billions or more different nanoparticles at one time to zero in on the best particle for a specific use. When materials are miniaturized, their properties -- optical, structural, electrical, mechanical and chemical -- change,

Nanotechnology and math deliver two-in-one punch for cancer therapy resistance

Math, biology and nanotechnology are becoming strange, yet effective bed-fellows in the fight against cancer treatment resistance. Researchers at the University of Waterloo and Harvard Medical School have engineered a revolutionary new approach to cancer treatment that pits a lethal combination of drugs together into a single nanoparticle. Their work, published online on June 3, 2016 in the leading

New electron microscope method detects atomic-scale magnetism

Scientists can now detect magnetic behavior at the atomic level with a new electron microscopy technique developed by a team from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Uppsala University, Sweden. The researchers took a counterintuitive approach by taking advantage of optical distortions that they typically try to eliminate."It's a new approach to measure magnetism at the atomic scale,"

Stanford researchers find new ways to make clean hydrogen and rechargable zinc batteries

The researchers described their findings in two studies published this month in the journals Science Advances and Nature Communications. Hydrogen fuel has long been touted as a clean alternative to gasoline. Automakers began offering hydrogen-powered cars to American consumers last year, but only a handful have sold, mainly because hydrogen refueling stations are few and far between."Millions of cars could be

A new form of hybrid photodetectors with quantum dots and graphene

Many efforts have been focused towards optoelectronic research in trying to create low cost photodetectors with high sensitivity, high quantum efficiency, high gain and fast photoresponse. This is of paramount importance especially in the short wave infrared which currently is addressed by very expensive III-V InGaAs photodetectors. The development of two main classes of photodetectors,

A new trick for controlling emission direction in microlasers

The researchers have capitalized on the largesse of an energy state in an optical field to make photons in their lasing system travel in a consistent mode, either clockwise or counterclockwise. Consistency in light propagation is important to get a reliably strong photonic signal and light pulse for all lasing systems and applications. Lasing alone is a multibillion-dollar industry with thousands of applications

New generation of high-efficiency solar thermal absorbers developed

Researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Exeter are one step closer to developing a new generation of low-cost, high-efficiency solar cells. The structure is one of the world's first examples of a tri-layer metasurface absorber using a carbon interlayer.The system, developed by Chenglong Wang a PhD student in Professor Martin Cryan's research group, uses amorphous carbon as an inter-layer

Drum beats from a one atom thick graphite membrane

Researchers from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, have demonstrated the ability to manipulate the vibrations of a drum of nanometre scale thickness - realizing the world's smallest and most versatile drum. This work has implications in improving the sensitivity of small detectors of mass - very important in detecting the mass of small molecules like viruses. This also opens the doors to probing exciting

New analysis approach brings two unique atomic structures into focus

Chemically the same, graphite and diamonds are as physically distinct as two minerals can be, one opaque and soft, the other translucent and hard. What makes them unique is their differing arrangement of carbon atoms.Discovery of gold nanocluster 'double' hints at other shape changing particles: New analysis approach brings two unique atomic structures into focus .

How insights into human learning can foster smarter artificial intelligence

Recent breakthroughs in creating artificial systems that outplay humans in a diverse array of challenging games have their roots in neural networks inspired by information processing in the brain. In a Review published June 14 in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, researchers from Google DeepMind and Stanford University update a theory originally developed to explain how humans and other animals learn - and highlight

DNA shaping up to be ideal framework for rationally designed nanostructures

DNA shaping up to be ideal framework for rationally designed nanostructures: Shaped DNA frames that precisely link nanoparticles into different structures offer a platform for designing functional nanomaterials

Nanoparticles (yellow balls) capped with short single-stranded DNA (blue squiggly lines) are mixed with polyhedral DNA frames (from top to bottom): cube, octahedron, elongated square bipyramid, prism, and

Nano 'hall of mirrors' causes molecules to mix with light

When a molecule emits a blink of light, it doesn't expect it to ever come back. However researchers have now managed to place single molecules in such a tiny optical cavity that emitted photons, or particles of light, return to the molecule before they have properly left. The energy oscillates back and forth between light and molecule, resulting in a complete mixing of the two.Previous attempts to mix molecules with light have been

Shaping atomically thin materials in suspended structures

dding a mechanical degree of freedom to the electrical and optical properties of atomically thin materials can provide an excellent platform to investigate various optoelectrical physics and devices with mechanical motion interaction. The large scale fabrication of such atomically thin materials with suspended structures, remains a challenge. Led by Associate Prof. Toshiaki Kato, the team has used a bottom-up approach to demonstrate wafer-

Miniature scaffolding could support fight against superbugs: Carbon nanodots can graft molecules, making them more effective antimicrobials

Tiny molecular scaffolding that joins molecules together could be the key to our battle against antibiotic resistance. Research published in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters shows that carbon nanodot scaffolding assembled with small molecules called polyamines can kill some dangerous drug-resistant bacteria, including Acinetobacter baumanii and Klebsiella pneumonia. According to the World Health

X-ray snapshot of butterfly wings reveals underlying physics of color

"Over millions of years, butterflies have evolved sophisticated cellular mechanisms to grow brightly colored structures, normally for the purpose of camouflage as well as mating," says Oleg Shpyrko, an associate professor of physics at UC San Diego, who headed the research effort. "It's been known for a century that the wings of these beautiful creatures contain what are called photonic crystals, which can reflect light of only

The use of nanoparticles and bioremediation to decontaminate polluted soils

Soils affected by organochlorine compounds are very difficult to decontaminate. Among these organochlorine compounds feature some insecticides mainly used to control insect pests, such as DDT, aldrin, dieldrin, endosulfan, hexachlorocyclohexane, toxaphene, chlordecone, mirex, etc. It is a well-known fact that the use of many of these insecticides is currently banned owing to their