Lifeboat Foundation

In a study published in Device has reported a new self-powered electrostatic tweezer that offers superior accumulation and tunability of triboelectric charges, enabling unprecedented flexibility and adaptability for manipulating objects in various working scenarios. The research team was led by Dr. Du Xuemin from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

QPI is a powerful technique that reveals variations in optical path length caused by weakly scattering samples, enabling the generation of high-contrast images of transparent specimens. Traditional 3D QPI methods, while effective, are limited by the need for multiple illumination angles and extensive digital post-processing for 3D image reconstruction, which can be time-consuming and computationally intensive.

In this innovative study, the research team developed a wavelength-multiplexed diffractive optical processor capable of all-optically transforming phase distributions of multiple 2D objects at various axial positions into intensity patterns, each encoded at a unique wavelength channel.

This design allows for the capture of quantitative phase images of input objects located at different axial planes using an intensity-only image sensor, eliminating the need for digital phase recovery algorithms.

A team of scientists has developed a novel hybrid scheme for both steady and unsteady single-phase compressible flow simulations. Their scheme has potential applications in real-world scenarios, offering a promising avenue for future research.

Scientists all over the world use modeling approaches to understand complex natural systems such as climate systems or neuronal or biochemical networks. A team of researchers has now developed a new mathematical framework that explains, for the first time, a mechanism behind long transient behaviors in complex systems.

This results in differences in the acoustic energy between the LC layers, glass disks, and the surrounding air, inducing an acoustic radiation force acting at the LC layer and glass disk boundary. This effect changes the molecular orientation of the LC layers, altering the transmitted light distribution. By changing the electrodes to which the input voltage is applied, the direction of the molecular orientation and therefore the diffusion directivity can be easily rotated.

The researchers investigated the diffusion characteristics of the device and found that the diffusion angle depends on the input voltage amplitude and is maximized at 16 V. Above this voltage amplitude, the diffused light can become unstable. Additionally, the transmitted light distribution depends on the polarization of incident light.

“Light diffusers that allow control over diffusion directivity can reduce energy consumption and enable users to tune the light distribution to their taste, resulting in better aesthetics Our device marks the first report of an ultrasonically controllable optical diffuser based on LC material, providing users control over diffusion directivity within a small space,” said Prof. Koyama.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have created the first-ever atomic movies showing how atoms rearrange locally within a quantum material as it transitions from an insulator to a metal. With the help of these movies, the researchers discovered a new material phase that settles a yearslong scientific debate and could facilitate the design of new transitioning materials with commercial applications.

Despite its immense success in describing the fundamental building blocks of matter and their interactions, the Standard Model of particle physics is known to be incomplete. Experiments around the globe and in space are therefore searching for signs of new physics phenomena that would guide physicists towards a more comprehensive theory.

The key to developing quantum electronics may have a few kinks. According to a team led by researchers at Penn State, that’s not a bad thing when it comes to the precise control needed to fabricate and operate such devices, including advanced sensors and lasers.

The formation of a black hole from light alone is permitted by general relativity, but a new study says quantum physics rules it out.

Black holes are known to form from large concentrations of mass, such as burned-out stars. But according to general relativity, they can also form from ultra-intense light. Theorists have speculated about this idea for decades. However, calculations by a team of researchers now suggest that light-induced black holes are not possible after all because quantum-mechanical effects cause too much leakage of energy for the collapse to proceed [1].

The extreme density of mass produced by a collapsed star can curve spacetime so severely that no light entering the region can escape. The formation of a black hole from light is possible according to general relativity because mass and energy are equivalent, so the energy in an electromagnetic field can also curve spacetime [2]. Putative electromagnetic black holes have become popularly known as kugelblitze, German for “ball lightning,” following the terminology used by Princeton University physicist John Wheeler in early studies of electromagnetically generated gravitational fields in the 1950s [3].