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Category: nanotechnology – Page 52

Breakthrough: New Register Loaded with Thousands of Entangled Nuclei

In a monumental stride toward the realization of practical quantum computing and advanced quantum networks, researchers at the prestigious Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge have successfully crafted a fully operational quantum register utilizing the atomic properties within a semiconductor quantum dot. This innovative development could pave the way for pivotal advancements in quantum information technology, crucial for the anticipated future where quantum networking integrates into everyday digital communications.

This breakthrough is detailed in a publication in Nature Physics, where it reveals the introduction of an entirely new category of qubits that are optically interconnected. As the field of quantum networking progresses, the need for stable, scalable, and adaptable quantum nodes has become increasingly evident. The research team’s focus on quantum dots is particularly advantageous, as these nanoscale entities possess unique optical and electronic attributes intrinsic to quantum mechanical phenomena.

Quantum dots have demonstrated considerable potential in existing technologies, such as medical imaging and display screens, primarily due to their efficacy as bright single-photon sources. However, to create functional quantum networks, it is essential not only to emit single photons but also to establish reliable qubits that can effectively interact with these emitted photons. Moreover, these qubits must be capable of locally storing quantum information over extended periods. The researchers’ development enhances the inherent spins of the nuclear atoms within the quantum dots, optimizing them into a cohesive many-body quantum register.

A new frontier in understanding electron dynamics: Imaging with attosecond short X-ray flashes

Attosecond science, honored with the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics, is transforming our understanding of how electrons move in atoms, molecules, and solids. An attosecond—equivalent to a billionth of a billionth of a second—enables “slow-motion” visualization of natural processes occurring at extraordinary speeds.

However, until now, most attosecond experiments have been limited to spectroscopic measurements due to the constraints of attosecond light pulse sources.

Using the powerful X-ray Free Electron Laser (FEL) at SLAC National Laboratory in California, the Hamburg team studied how interact with nanoparticles. They uncovered a previously unexplored phenomenon: transient ion resonances that enhance image brightness.

Deep-ultraviolet laser microscope reveals diamond’s nanoscale transport behaviors

Ultrawide-bandgap semiconductors—such as diamond—are promising for next-generation electronics due to a larger energy gap between the valence and conduction bands, allowing them to handle higher voltages, operate at higher frequencies, and provide greater efficiency compared to traditional materials like silicon.

However, their make it challenging to probe and understand how charge and heat move on nanometer-to-micron scales. Visible light has a very limited ability to probe nanoscale properties, and moreover, it is not absorbed by diamond, so it cannot be used to launch currents or rapid heating.

Now, researchers at JILA, led by JILA Fellows and University of Colorado physics professors Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, along with graduate students Emma Nelson, Theodore Culman, Brendan McBennett, and former JILA postdoctoral researchers Albert Beardo and Joshua Knobloch, have developed a novel microscope that makes examining these materials possible on an unprecedented scale.

Machine learning and 3D printing yield steel-strong, foam-light materials

Researchers at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering have used machine learning to design nano-architected materials that have the strength of carbon steel but the lightness of Styrofoam.

In a new paper published in Advanced Materials, a team led by Professor Tobin Filleter describes how they made nanomaterials with properties that offer a conflicting combination of exceptional strength, light weight and customizability. The approach could benefit a wide range of industries, from automotive to aerospace.

“Nano-architected materials combine high performance shapes, like making a bridge out of triangles, at nanoscale sizes, which takes advantage of the ‘smaller is stronger’ effect, to achieve some of the highest strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios, of any material,” says Peter Serles, the first author of the new paper.

Developing an autonomous AI assistant to build nanostructures

The chemical composition of a material alone sometimes reveals little about its properties. The decisive factor is often the arrangement of the molecules in the atomic lattice structure or on the surface of the material. Materials science utilizes this factor to create certain properties by applying individual atoms and molecules to surfaces with the aid of high-performance microscopes. This is still extremely time-consuming and the constructed nanostructures are comparatively simple.

Using , a research group at TU Graz now wants to take the construction of nanostructures to a new level. Their paper is published in the journal Computer Physics Communications.

“We want to develop a self-learning AI system that positions individual molecules quickly, specifically and in the right orientation, and all this completely autonomously,” says Oliver Hofmann from the Institute of Solid State Physics, who heads the research group. This should make it possible to build highly complex molecular structures, including logic circuits in the nanometer range.

Scientists Create Tiny Motors that Mimic Nature

Scientists have built an artificial motor capable of mimicking the natural mechanisms that power life.

The finding, from The University of Manchester and the University of Strasbourg, published in the journal Nature, provides new insights into the fundamental processes that drive life at the molecular level and could open doors for applications in medicine, energy storage, and nanotechnology.

Professor David Leigh, lead researcher from The University of Manchester, said: Biology uses chemically powered molecular machines for every biological process, such as transporting chemicals around the cell, information processing or reproduction.

Nanotechnology Milestone: DNA Motors Reach 30 nm/s Speeds

Researchers leverage their understanding of molecular motors to improve nanoscale.

The term “nanoscale” refers to dimensions that are measured in nanometers (nm), with one nanometer equaling one-billionth of a meter. This scale encompasses sizes from approximately 1 to 100 nanometers, where unique physical, chemical, and biological properties emerge that are not present in bulk materials. At the nanoscale, materials exhibit phenomena such as quantum effects and increased surface area to volume ratios, which can significantly alter their optical, electrical, and magnetic behaviors. These characteristics make nanoscale materials highly valuable for a wide range of applications, including electronics, medicine, and materials science.

US makes strongest-ever armor material with 100 trillion bonds/cm²

A research team led by scientists at Northwestern University has developed the first-ever two-dimensional mechanically interlocked material with high flexibility and strength. In the future, this could be used to develop lightweight yet high-performance body armor and other such tough materials, a press release said.

It was in the 1980s that Fraser Stoddart, then a chemist at Northwestern University, first introduced the concept of mechanical bonds. Stoddart then expanded the role of these bonds into molecular machines by enabling functions like switching, rotating, contracting, and expanding in multiple ways and using them to develop interlocked structures, which also won him the Nobel Prize in 2016.

Nanoislands on silicon enable switchable topological textures for new electronic applications

Ferroelectrics at the nanoscale exhibit a wealth of polar and sometimes swirling (chiral) electromagnetic textures that not only represent fascinating physics, but also promise applications in future nanoelectronics. For example, ultra-high-density data storage or extremely energy-efficient field-effect transistors. However, a sticking point has been the stability of these topological textures and how they can be controlled and steered by an external electrical or optical stimulus.

A team led by Prof. Catherine Dubourdieu (HZB and FU Berlin) has now published a paper in Nature Communications that opens up new perspectives. Together with partners from the CEMES-CNRS in Toulouse, the University of Picardie in Amiens and the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, they have thoroughly investigated a particularly interesting class of nanoislands on silicon and explored their suitability for electrical manipulation.

“We have produced BaTiO3 nanostructures that form tiny islands on a silicon substrate,” explains Dubourdieu. The nano-islands are trapezoidal in shape, with dimensions of 30–60 nm (on top), and have stable polarization domains.

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