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Category: electronics – Page 3

New imaging method reveals how lithium-metal batteries lose capacity over time

Lithium-metal batteries have not hit the market yet, but if they do, they could be a solution to the everyday woes of the dwindling battery meter. They are cousins of the lithium-ion batteries found in legions of everyday electronic devices, but with the potential to hold twice as much power. Unfortunately, the lithium-metal battery’s limited number of recharges has been a major obstacle to their wide adoption.

A new study led by researchers at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, or CNSI, however, might just help ratchet up the pace of progress. In the journal Science Advances, the team documented an they invented that—for the first time ever—captures a lithium-metal battery as it charges, at a level of detail smaller than the wavelength of light.

The method, electrified , or eCryoEM for short, yielded insights that may help guide the design of better lithium-metal batteries. Cultivating this progress with U.S.-based research could give the U.S. an edge in this successor technology to , an industry currently dominated by Chinese enterprises. The study also holds promise for shedding light on mysteries in disciplines as far afield as neuroscience.

Electronic ink enables room-temperature printing of circuits capable of switching between rigid and soft modes

Variable-stiffness electronics are at the forefront of adaptive technology, offering the ability for a single device to transition between rigid and soft modes depending on its use case. Gallium, a metal known for its high rigidity contrast between solid and liquid states, is a promising candidate for such applications. However, its use has been hindered by challenges including high surface tension, low viscosity, and undesirable phase transitions during manufacturing.

Quanta image sensors brings bioluminescent signals into sharper focus

Researchers at Helmholtz Munich and the Technical University of Munich have developed a new microscope that significantly improves how bioluminescent signals in living cells can be observed.

The system, known as QIScope, is built around a highly sensitive camera technology capable of detecting extremely low levels of light. With sharper image resolution, a wider field of view, and integration with other imaging methods, QIScope opens new opportunities for studying living systems in greater detail and over longer periods.

The work is published in the journal Nature Methods.

Twisting light for memory: New chiral photonic device enables real-time control of light polarization and data storage

As fast as modern electronics have become, they could be much faster if their operations were based on light, rather than electricity. Fiber optic cables already transport information at the speed of light; to do computations on that information without translating it back to electric signals will require a host of new optical components.

Researchers at the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering have now developed such a device: one that can be adjusted on the fly to give light different degrees of circular polarization. Because information can be stored in this chiral property of light, the researchers’ device could serve as a multifunctional, reconfigurable component of an optical computing system.

Led by Weilu Gao, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Jichao Fan, a Ph.D. candidate in his lab, a study demonstrating the device was published in the journal Nature Communications. Fellow Gao lab members Ruiyang Chen, Minhan Lou, Haoyu Xie, Benjamin Hillam, Jacques Doumani, and Yingheng Tang contributed to the study, as did Nina Hong of the J.A. Woollam Company.

Upgraded design enables blue OLEDs to match green OLEDs in efficiency and lifespan

Blue phosphorescent OLEDs can now last as long as the green phosphorescent OLEDs already in devices, University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated, paving the way for further improving the energy efficiency of OLED screens.

“This moves the blues into the domain of green lifetimes,” said Stephen Forrest, the Peter A. Franken Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and corresponding author of the study in Nature Photonics.

“I can’t say the problem is completely solved—of course it’s not solved until it enters your display—but I think we’ve shown the path to a real solution that has been evading the community for two decades.”

35% Efficiency Boost Seen in Spin-Torque Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording

In conventional heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), a laser is used to locally heat the recording medium to facilitate data writing. However, the thermal energy applied is largely dissipated within the medium and does not contribute directly to the recording efficiency. Moreover, this high-temperature process consumes substantial energy and raises concerns regarding the magnetic and physical degradation of the medium, especially under repeated use.

The research team focused on the temperature gradient generated within the recording medium during laser irradiation. They developed a novel structure by inserting an antiferromagnetic manganese-platinum (MnPt) layer beneath the iron-platinum (FePt) recording layer. This structure achieved approximately 35% improvement in recording efficiency compared to conventional HAMR.

This enhancement stems from generated by the , which induce spin torque that assists magnetic switching—effectively augmenting the conventional thermal assist effect. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that spin torque can be applied to (HDDs), paving the way for a new class of recording technologies.

Study reveals new way to control magnons for efficient electronics

A new study by University of Kentucky researchers is helping change how scientists understand and control magnetic energy—and it could lead to faster, more efficient electronic devices.

Led by Ambrose Seo, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences, the study was recently published in Nature Communications.

The research focuses on magnons—tiny waves that carry magnetic energy through materials.