The apparatus can be easily replicated by other laboratories accelerating the entry of metamaterials in the real world.
Eurekalert.
Metamaterials are products made from everyday materials such as polymers, ceramics, and metals. When mixed in the right proportions and constructed precisely at microscales, these materials can assume extraordinary properties.
New materials developed at the University of Surrey could pave the way for a new generation of flexible X-ray detectors, with potential applications ranging from cancer treatment to better airport scanners.
Traditionally, X-ray detectors are made of heavy, rigid material such as silicon or germanium. New, flexible detectors are cheaper and can be shaped around the objects that need to be scanned, improving accuracy when screening patients and reducing risk when imaging tumors and administering radiotherapy.
Dr. Prabodhi Nanayakkara, who led the research at the University of Surrey, said, “This new material is flexible, low-cost, and sensitive. But what’s exciting is that this material is tissue equivalent. This paves the way for live dosimetry, which just isn’t possible with current technology.”
“This work brings us a step closer to realizing the full potential of physical reservoirs to create computers that not only require significantly less energy, but also adapt their computational properties to perform optimally across various tasks, just like our brains,” said Dr. Oscar Lee.
A recent study published in Nature Materials examines a breakthrough approach in physical reservoir computing, also known as a neuromorphic or brain-inspired method and involves using a material’s physical properties to adhere to a myriad of machine learning duties. This study was conducted by an international team of researchers and holds the potential to help physical reservoir computing serve as a framework towards making machine learning more energy efficient.
Artist rendition of connected chiral (twisted) magnets used as a computing avenue for brain-inspired, physical reservoir computing. (Credit: Dr. Oscar Lee)
For the study, the researchers used a magnetic field and temperature variances on chiral (twisted) magnets—which served as the computing channel—they found the materials could be used for a myriad of machine learning needs. What makes this discovery extraordinary is that physical reservoir computing has been found to have limits, specifically pertaining to its ability to be rearranged. Additionally, the team discovered that the chiral magnets performed better at certain computing tasks based on changes in the magnetic field phases used throughout the experiments.
The collaborative study seeks to revolutionize reservoir computing by mirroring the adaptability of the human brain.
Dr. Oscar Lee.
The team utilized chiral (twisted) magnets as a computational medium, employing an external magnetic field and temperature variations to adapt the material’s physical properties for diverse machine-learning tasks.
This work explores the potential for additive manufacturing to be used to fabricate ultraviolet light-blocking or photocatalytic materials with in situ resource utilization, using a titania foam as a model system. Direct foam writing was used to deposit titania-based foam lines in microgravity using parabolic flight. The wet foam was based on titania primary particles and a titania precursor (Ti (IV) bis(ammonium lactato) dihydroxide). Lines were also printed in Earth gravity and their resulting properties were compared with regard to average cross-sectional area, height, and width. The cross-sectional height was found to be higher when printing at low speeds in microgravity compared to Earth gravity, but lower when printing at high speeds in microgravity compared to Earth gravity. It was also observed that volumetric flow rate was generally higher when writing in Earth gravity compared to microgravity. Additionally, heterogeneous photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue was studied to characterize the foams for water purification and was found to generally increase as the foam heat treatment temperature increased. Optical and scanning electron microscopies were used to observe foam morphology. X-ray diffraction spectroscopy was used to study the change in crystallinity with respect to temperature. Contact angle of water was found to increase on the surface of the foam as ultraviolet light exposure time increased. Additionally, the foam blocked more ultraviolet light over time when exposed to ultraviolet radiation. Finally, bubble coarsening measurements were taken to observe bubble radius growth over time.
A team of materials scientists at Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, working with colleagues from the China Academy of Space Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, all in China, has found that billions of years of exposure to radiation has made glass on the moon harder.
In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes how they tested samples of lunar regolith brought to Earth by China’s Chang’e-5 lunar lander and then treated the samples to rejuvenate them for comparison purposes.
Humans have been making glass for approximately 4,000 years; nature, on the other hand, has been doing it for billions of years. In this new effort, the research team studied glass that has been made naturally on the moon by meteoroids striking, and melting lunar regolith —some of it billions of years old.
The B-21 Raider took its first test flight on Friday, moving the futuristic warplane closer to becoming the nation’s next nuclear weapons stealth bomber.
The Raider flew in Palmdale, California, where it has been under testing and development by Northrop Grumman.
The Air Force is planning to build 100 of the warplanes, which have a flying wing shape much like their predecessor the B-2 Spirit but will incorporate advanced materials, propulsion and stealth technology to make them more survivable in a future conflict. The plane is planned to be produced in variants with and without pilots.
Researchers at Columbia University have created a superatomic material that’s being lauded as the “world’s best semiconductor.” Through a surprising twist of physics, it’s expected to allow processing (switching) speeds in the femtosecond scale. Here’s why it will most likely be a piece of the semiconductors puzzle, not its final shape.
We investigate ultrafast harmonic generation (HG) in Si: B, driven by intense pump pulses with fields reaching sim100\phantomrule{0.28em0ex}kV\phantomrule{0.16em0ex}cm^-1 and a carrier frequency of 300 GHz, at 4 K and 300 K, both experimentally and theoretically. We report several findings concerning the nonlinear charge carrier dynamics in intense sub-THz fields: (i) Harmonics of order up to $n=9$ are observed at room temperature, while at low temperature we can resolve harmonics reaching at least $n=11$. The susceptibility per charge carrier at moderate field strength is as high as for charge carriers in graphene, considered to be one of the materials with the strongest sub-THz nonlinear response.
Apple is developing custom batteries with significantly improved performance that it aims to bring to its devices starting in 2025, ETNews reports.
Apple’s custom battery technology has reportedly been in the works since 2018, with the company actively seeking patents and hiring new personnel related to the project. The company is reportedly seeking to create an “all-new” kind of battery with significantly improved performance by becoming directly involved in its use of materials.