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Category: electronics – Page 11

Lying between the microwave and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, the terahertz (1 THz = 10¹² Hz) gap is being rapidly closed by development of new terahertz sources and detectors, with promising applications in spectroscopy, imaging, sensing, and communication.

These applications greatly benefit from terahertz sources delivering high-energy or high-average-power radiation. On the other hand, high-intensity or strong-field terahertz sources are essential to observe or exploit novel nonlinear terahertz-matter interactions, where the electric and/or magnetic field strengths play a key role.

The team of scientists, led by Dr. Chul Kang from Advanced Photonics Research Institute, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Korea, and Professor Ki-Yong Kim from Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, U.S., has created the world’s strongest terahertz fields of 260 megavolts per centimeter (MV/cm) or equivalent peak intensity of 9 × 10¹³ watts per square centimeter (W/cm²).

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The public’s appetite for inexpensive and powerful electronic devices continues to grow. While silicon-based semiconductors have been key to satiating this demand, a superior alternative could be wide-bandgap semiconductors. These materials, which operate at higher temperatures and handle increased power loads, are unfortunately very expensive.

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From the rain drops rolling down your window, to the fluid running through a COVID rapid test, we cannot go a day without observing the world of fluid dynamics. Naturally, how liquids traverse across, and through, surfaces is a heavily researched subject, where new discoveries can have profound effects in the fields of energy conversion technology, electronics cooling, biosensors, and micro-/nano-fabrications.

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NYU Abu Dhabi researchers have unveiled a novel 2D material improving optical modulation for advanced systems and communications.

Responding to the increasing demand for efficient, tunable optical materials capable of precise light modulation to create greater bandwidth in communication networks and advanced optical systems, a team of researchers at NYU Abu Dhabi’s Photonics Research Lab (PRL) has developed a novel, two-dimensional (2D) material capable of manipulating light with exceptional precision and minimal loss.

Tunable optical materials (TOMs) are revolutionizing modern optoelectronics, electronic devices that detect, generate, and control light. In integrated photonics circuits, precise control over the optical properties of materials is crucial for unlocking groundbreaking and diverse applications in light manipulation. Two-dimensional materials like Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) and graphene exhibit remarkable optical responses to external stimuli. However, achieving distinctive modulation across a short-wave infrared (SWIR) region while maintaining precise phase control at low signal loss within a compact footprint has been a persistent challenge.

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A new electrical power converter design developed by Kobe University offers significantly improved efficiency at a reduced cost and lower maintenance. This direct current voltage boost converter is set to make a substantial impact on the development of electric and electronic components in various sectors, including power generation, healthcare, mobility, and information technology.

Devices that harvest energy from sunlight or vibrations, or power medical devices or hydrogen-fueled cars have one key component in common. This so-called “boost converter” converts low-voltage direct current input into high-voltage direct current output. Because it is such a ubiquitous and key component, it is desirable that it uses as few parts as possible for reduced maintenance and cost and at the same time that it operates at the highest possible efficiency without generating electromagnetic noise or heat. The main working principle of boost converters is to quickly change between two states in a circuit, one that stores energy and another that releases it. The faster the switching is, the smaller the components can be and therefore the whole device can be downsized. However, this also increases the electromagnetic noise and heat production, which deteriorates the performance of the power converter.

The team of Kobe University power electronics researcher Mishima Tomokazu made significant progress in developing a new direct current power conversion circuit. They managed to combine high-frequency switching (about 10 times higher than before) with a technique that reduces electromagnetic noise and power losses due to heat dissipation, called “soft switching,” while also reducing the number of components and, therefore, keeping cost and complexity low.

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Resolve specializes in detecting “soft” X-rays, a form of light with energies 5,000 times greater than visible light. This allows it to pierce through the veil and observe the universe’s most violent and energetic phenomena: supermassive black holes, sprawling galaxy clusters, and the fiery aftermath of supernovae.

However, these 36 pixels are far from ordinary. They function as a “microcalorimeter spectrometer,” explains Brian Williams, NASA’s XRISM project scientist. Each pixel acts like a miniature thermometer, meticulously measuring the temperature change caused by an incoming X-ray. This seemingly simple act reveals a wealth of information.

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A new type of memory has been demonstrated running at an astounding 600C for over 60 hours. Non-volatile ferroelectric diode (ferrodiode) memory devices can offer outstanding heat resistance and other properties that should enable cutting-edge data and extreme environment computing, claim researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in a Nature Electronics article, A scalable ferroelectronic non-volatile memory operating at 600°C.

Ferrodiode memory devices use a 45-nanometer thin layer of a synthesized AIScN (l0.68Sc0.32N) because of its ability to retain electrical states “after an external electric field is removed,” among “other desirable properties.” Ferrodiode memory has been tested running at 600 degrees Celsius for more than 60 hours while operating at less than 15 volts.

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