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Category: nanotechnology – Page 2

Quantum researchers engineer extremely precise phonon lasers

When lasers were invented in the 1960s, they opened new avenues for scientific discovery and everyday applications, from scanners at the grocery store to corrective eye surgery. Conventional lasers control photons—individual particles of light—but over the past 20 years, scientists have invented lasers that control other fundamental particles, including phonons—individual particles of vibration or sound. Controlling phonons could open even more possibilities with lasers, such as taking advantage of unique quantum properties like entanglement.

A new squeezed phonon laser developed by researchers at the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology provides precise control over phonons at the nanoscale level. This could give new insights into the nature of gravity, particle acceleration, and quantum physics.

In a paper in Nature Communications, the researchers describe how they coax these individual particles of mechanical motion to behave like a laser.

Aerosol jet printing creates durable, low-power transistors for next-generation tech

Tiny electronic devices, called microelectronics, may one day be printed as easily as words on a page, thanks to new research from scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. Building on years of progress in printed electronics, the team has shown how to create durable, low-power electronic switches, called transistors, by combining custom inks and a specialized printing process.

These switches, which control the flow of electrical current to turn circuits on and off, use very little power, are built to last and show new behaviors not seen in earlier printed devices. This research could help create flexible sensors, smart windows and other new technologies that need reliable, energy-saving electronics. The work is published in Advanced Materials Technologies.

How aerosol jet printing works The scientists used a method called aerosol jet printing, which works like an inkjet printer. But instead of regular ink, it uses specially formulated ink made from nanoparticles. The printer turns the ink into a fine mist and sprays it onto a surface, building up layers to form electronic parts.

New Carbon Nanotube Coating Could Supercharge 6G Technology

Ultrathin nanotube films absorb terahertz waves, boosting 6G performance and enabling advanced shielding and medical applications. Researchers at Skoltech, working with colleagues from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, have developed a key technology that could support future 6G commun

Fieldoscopy reveals femtosecond optical switching in 15 nm indium tin oxide nanocrystals

Just as an antenna interacts with radio waves, light interacts with metallic nanostructures. Therefore, understanding how a structure influences field oscillations provides valuable insights into the structure’s physical properties. An international research team, including scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL), is investigating the changes in field oscillations that occur when light interacts with indium tin oxide (ITO) nanocrystals. This will deepen our understanding of how the interaction between light and these nanocrystals depends on time.

Precise and high-speed control of light is crucial to optical communication. It opens up the possibility to transmit data more quickly and efficiently in the future. Optical switches, which can activate or deactivate light pulses selectively, are a key component in achieving this.

To ensure optimal performance and prevent delays caused by switching times, the switches must respond very fast. Ideally, they also have the highest possible modulation depth. This refers to the difference in brightness between the light transmitted in the “on” and “off” states. Additionally, a suitable switch exhibits the same predictable behavior each time it is used.

Tiny LED design could power next-generation technology

From 3D movie screens to augmented-reality devices, many modern technologies rely on our ability to manipulate light. Doing so in a cost-effective and efficient way, however, is often a formidable task. In an article published in Optics Letters, researchers from the University of Osaka announced a new light-emitting diode (LED) design that may help shrink complex optical systems into much smaller devices. The LED produces circularly polarized light using a built-in nanostructured surface, eliminating the need for bulky external optical components.

Circularly polarized light, whose electric field rotates like a corkscrew as it travels, is essential for technologies such as 3D displays, advanced imaging systems, and quantum communication tools. Traditionally, generating this kind of light requires optical components such as polarizers and special plates that modify the light’s phase. However, these components make devices larger, more complex, and harder to integrate.

“Our goal is to simplify the way circularly polarized light is produced,” says corresponding author Shuhei Ichikawa. “By integrating polarization control directly into the LED with a specially designed metasurface, we remove the need for additional optical components.”

Silicon nanospheres boost WS₂ second-harmonic generation 40-fold while preserving polarization

A research team has demonstrated that silicon nanospheres can strongly enhance second-harmonic generation (SHG) from an atomically thin semiconductor while preserving the circular polarization information tied to its valley degree of freedom. The study, published in Nano Letters, provides design guidelines for efficient, polarization-preserving nonlinear light sources at the nanoscale.

SHG is a nonlinear optical process that converts light to twice its original frequency. Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as tungsten disulfide (WS2) possess valley-dependent optical selection rules that link circular polarization directly to the electronic valley index, making the SHG polarization state a direct readout of valley information.

To harness the valley degree of freedom as an information carrier in valleytronics, it is essential to enhance the SHG signal while preserving its circular polarization. However, the atomic-scale thickness of monolayer TMDs severely limits conversion efficiency, and previous approaches using nanostructures to boost the signal have disrupted the valley-polarization information—a dilemma of “enhance the signal, lose the polarization.”

DNA origami precisely positions single-photon emitters for quantum technologies

An international research team led by scientists from Skoltech has developed a method to position molecules on the surface of ultrathin materials with unprecedented precision using molecular DNA self-assembly, enabling the creation of quantum light sources. The results, published in the journal Light: Science & Applications, pave the way for the production of compact and efficient components for future quantum computers and secure communication networks.

Two-dimensional materials such as molybdenum disulfide are promising candidates for quantum light sources due to their ability to emit photons under laser excitation. However, until now, scientists have been unable to precisely control the location of emission centers—they emerged randomly upon ion beam irradiation or mechanical deformation of the material.

The authors of the study proposed a different approach. The research is based on the DNA origami method, which allows the construction of nanoscale objects of a specified shape from DNA molecules. Triangular structures measuring 127 nanometers were assembled, each carrying 18 thiol molecules. These structures were placed onto a silicon chip with a lithographic pattern. The positioning yield of each DNA origami structure at its designated location exceeded 90%, significantly surpassing the statistical limit of traditional single molecule deposition methods.

Electronics of the future: Ultra-efficient graphene switch developed at nanometer scale

A team of researchers from Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with colleagues from Japan, has taken an important step toward the next generation of electronics. The scientists achieved highly precise control of the internal structure of graphene—an exceptionally thin and strong material—using a minute, nearly negligible amount of energy.

The study was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Moshe Ben-Shalom of the School of Physics and Astronomy, together with Prof. Michael Urbakh and Prof. Oded Hod of the School of Chemistry. The experiments and calculations were led by Dr. Nirmal Roy and Dr. Pengua Ying, supported by Simon Salleh Atri, Yoav Sharaby, Noam Raab, and Dr. Youngki Yao. The findings were published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

New lipid nanoparticle design improves precision of mRNA vaccine delivery

Penn Engineers have redesigned a key component of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), the delivery vehicles behind mRNA vaccines, to steer the particles toward lymph nodes while reducing off-target delivery to the liver. The advance could make mRNA vaccines more efficient, potentially achieving strong immune protection at lower doses.

“The more particles that reach the lymph nodes, the fewer particles each dose needs,” says Michael J. Mitchell, Associate Professor in Bioengineering (BE) and senior author of a new study in Journal of the American Chemical Society that describes how the researchers modified the ionizable lipid, a key LNP ingredient that helps mRNA enter cells.

In animal models, the new “aroLNPs,” whose name refers to the addition of a chemical structure called an “aromatic ring” to the ionizable lipid, delivered at least 10-fold less mRNA to the liver compared to the LNP formulation in the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, while maintaining similar levels of lymph-node delivery.

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