The Department of Energy is investing in next-gen microelectronics to curb skyrocketing energy demands. SLAC and other top institutions are developing innovative materials, AI-powered sensing, and brain-inspired computing to push efficiency to new levels. Powering the Future: The Energy Demand o.
Scientists have found a way to achieve negative refraction, using carefully arranged atomic arrays instead of engineered metamaterials. VERY GOOD!
Ask the researchers: Do you understand the spacetime background of atomic arrays interactions?
Scientific research guided by correct theories can enable researchers to think more.
Lithium nickel oxide (LiNiO2) has emerged as a potential new material to power next-generation, longer-lasting lithium-ion batteries. Commercialization of the material, however, has stalled because it degrades after repeated charging.
University of Texas at Dallas researchers have discovered why LiNiO2 batteries break down, and they are testing a solution that could remove a key barrier to widespread use of the material. They published their findings in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.
The team plans first to manufacture LiNiO2 batteries in the lab and ultimately to work with an industry partner to commercialize the technology.
For the first time, scientists have demonstrated that negative refraction can be achieved using atomic arrays—without the need for artificially manufactured metamaterials.
Scientists have long sought to control light in ways that appear to defy the laws of nature.
Negative refraction—a phenomenon where light bends in the opposite direction to its usual behavior—has captivated researchers for its potential to revolutionize optics, enabling transformative technologies such as superlenses and cloaking devices.
Researchers from SANKEN (The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research) at Osaka University have discovered that temperature-controlled conductive networks in vanadium dioxide significantly improve the sensitivity of silicon devices to terahertz.
Terahertz radiation refers to the electromagnetic waves that occupy the frequency range between microwaves and infrared light, typically from about 0.1 to 10 terahertz (THz). This region of the electromagnetic spectrum is notable for its potential applications across a wide variety of fields, including imaging, telecommunications, and spectroscopy. Terahertz waves can penetrate non-conducting materials such as clothing, paper, and wood, making them particularly useful for security screening and non-destructive testing. In spectroscopy, they can be used to study the molecular composition of substances, as many molecules exhibit unique absorption signatures in the terahertz range.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a groundbreaking method to transform graphite into materials with electronic memory capabilities.
By manipulating atomic layers, they could revolutionize computing and electronic devices, potentially surpassing the value of diamonds and gold.
Transforming elements: from alchemy to advanced materials.
Physicists measured how readily a current of electron pairs flows through “magic-angle” graphene, a major step toward understanding how this unusual material superconducts.
The phase and the group velocity of light propagating in conventional optical media cannot exceed the speed of light in vacuum. However, in so-called epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials, light exhibits an infinite phase velocity and a vanishing group velocity for a particular color (frequency).
So far, such properties have only been observed in very few solids and nano-engineered materials. A new study by researchers from the Max Born Institute in Berlin and Tulane University in New Orleans opens a completely new avenue by transiently turning ordinary liquids, such as water and alcohols, into ENZ materials at terahertz (THz) frequencies through the interaction with intense femtosecond laser pulses.
Ionization of a polar molecular liquid with femtosecond laser pulses generates free electrons, which localize or “solvate” on a femtosecond time scale and eventually occupy voids in the network of molecules, a disordered array of electric dipoles. The binding energy of the electron in its final location is mainly determined by electric forces between the electron and the molecular dipoles of the liquid.
A research team has developed a revolutionary two-dimensional polyaniline (2DPANI) crystal that overcomes major conductivity limitations in polymers. Its unique multilayered structure allows metallic charge transport, setting the stage for new applications in electronics and materials science.
An international team of researchers has successfully created a multilayered two-dimensional polyaniline (2DPANI) crystal, demonstrating exceptional conductivity and a unique ability to transport charge in a metallic-like manner. Their findings were published on February 5 in Nature.
Superconducting materials are similar to the carpool lane in a congested interstate. Like commuters who ride together, electrons that pair up can bypass the regular traffic, moving through the material with zero friction.
But just as with carpools, how easily electron pairs can flow depends on a number of conditions, including the density of pairs that are moving through the material. This “superfluid stiffness,” or the ease with which a current of electron pairs can flow, is a key measure of a material’s superconductivity.
Physicists at MIT and Harvard University have now directly measured superfluid stiffness for the first time in “magic-angle” graphene—materials that are made from two or more atomically thin sheets of graphene twisted with respect to each other at just the right angle to enable a host of exceptional properties, including unconventional superconductivity.