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Category: nanotechnology – Page 2

Nanomagnets control diamond qubits, pointing to more scalable quantum hardware

Quantum computing, once only a theoretical possibility, promises to deliver faster, more energy-efficient computers—but only if scientists can build and scale the hardware needed to run the machines. New research from Virginia Commonwealth University brings scientists one small step closer to quantum computing at a practical scale, which could help dramatically reduce energy usage and computing times in some industries.

In the study, recently published in Nature Communications, the researchers used minuscule magnets—twice as small as the wavelength of light—to create the building blocks of quantum computing, pioneering a technique that could decrease the physical space needed to create a viable quantum computer.

“This work has the potential to advance quantum computing,” said Jayasimha Atulasimha, Ph.D., a professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering in VCU’s College of Engineering and the study’s principal investigator. “We’re solving a specific problem for spin-based quantum computing, which has the potential for scaling.”

Terahertz imaging maps spatial chirality in materials with 100-micrometer resolution

In nature, there exist structures that are mirror images of each other but cannot be perfectly superimposed. These are known as chiral objects, derived from the Greek word for “hand,” since left and right hands share the same relationship. Although similar in structure, chiral molecules exhibit different behaviors, and chirality is central to life itself. DNA has a twisted chiral structure, and living organisms prefer one handedness over the other. This distinction is equally important in drug design, materials science, and nanotechnology.

One way to distinguish chiral molecules is by measuring their response to circularly polarized light in the terahertz (THz) region. THz waves lie between microwaves and infrared light and are especially sensitive to subtle collective motions and twisting structures in materials. However, conventional THz measurements average the signal across an entire sample, making it impossible to determine how chirality varies across different locations.

Now, researchers from Chiba University, Japan, and Tohoku University, Japan, have shown that this limitation can be overcome, allowing chirality to be visualized as two-dimensional images, much like creating a map of chirality across a material. The work appears in ACS Photonics.

Atomic reshuffle leads to record-breaking catalysts for hydrogen production

Researchers have discovered that atoms can be mixed, separated, and recombined within the same experiment, providing a pathway to a record-breaking catalyst for green hydrogen production. In their study, the team created nanoscale particles containing only a few dozen platinum and nickel atoms and observed unusual dynamic behavior in direct space and in real time. As the two metals separate from one another while maintaining an interface, they become highly active for electrochemical water splitting, leading to efficient hydrogen evolution.

The project was led by the University of Nottingham in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, Diamond Light Source, and Ulm University in Germany. The study appears in Advanced Materials.

Research team leader Dr. Jesum Alves Fernandes, from the School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, said, “What makes this discovery exciting is that we can reversibly tune the structure of the particle while directly observing the process at the atomic scale. This opens a new strategy for designing adaptive catalysts for a wide range of applications.”

Stanford’s Revolutionary New Microscope Reveals Living Cells in Stunning Detail

Stanford researchers have developed a microscope that can show how nanostructures interact inside living cells at the highest resolution achieved so far. The view into living cells just got better. Stanford researchers have merged two microscopy methods to build a unique instrument that can ca

Materials For Space Elevators — From Carbon Nanotubes To Graphene And Beyond…

From carbon nanotubes to multi-layered graphene, we explore the revolutionary materials that could turn space elevators from sci-fi dreams into real-world infrastructure. Discover how these supermaterials might let us weave ribbons to the stars.

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Materials For Space Elevators — From Carbon Nanotubes To Graphene And Beyond…
Episode 741; July 24, 2025
Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Edited by:
Adrian Nixon.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images.
Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator.
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‘Atom Camera’ maps laser light at nanoscale using a single ultracold atom

A research group led by Assistant Professor Takafumi Tomita and Professor Kenji Ohmori at the Institute for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, has developed a new microscopy technique called the Atom Camera, which uses a single ultracold atom at near absolute zero temperature trapped in an optical tweezer as a camera to visualize the intensity and polarization distributions of light at the nanometer (one-millionth of a millimeter) scale.

In this study, a single atom trapped by optical tweezer was successfully utilized as a scanning probe for imaging the fine structures of intensity and polarization distributions of light patterns with a spatial resolution beyond the diffraction limit of conventional optical microscopes. The results are published in Nature Communications.

Cyborg Tissue In the Lab! (Brainstorm Ep101)

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Silver nanoparticles enable assembly of a theorized, previously unobserved crystal metallic structure

Using finely tuned nanoscale building blocks, researchers from Brown University and the University of Michigan College of Engineering have stabilized a fleeting structural phase of matter that had been predicted theoretically but never before stabilized in a physical material.

The new nanoparticle superlattice, described in the journal Science, freezes an elusive intermediate state between two of nature’s most common crystal metallic arrangements. Beyond describing new details about how this transition works, the new structure exhibits extraordinary optical properties that could be useful in quantum computing or other quantum information systems.

More broadly, the work provides a new recipe for using custom-shaped nanoparticles to engineer entirely new classes of materials with tailored properties.

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