Category Physics

Invisibility cloaks? Wave Scattering Simulation Unlocks Potential for Advanced Metamaterials

New software simulates complex wave scattering for metamaterial design. Could invisibility cloaks become a reality? New research brings this science fiction concept a step closer, with a breakthrough software package that simulates how waves interact with complex materials.

A new software package developed by researchers at Macquarie University can accurately model the way waves — sound, water or light — are scattered when they meet complex configurations of particles.

This will vastly improve the ability to rapidly design metamaterials — exciting artificial materials used to amplify, block or deflect waves.

The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A on 19 June 2024, demonstrated the use of TMATSOLVER — a multipole-based tool that models interac...

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Solving a Memristor Mystery to develop Efficient, Long-lasting Memory Devices

Newly discovered role of phase separation can help develop memory devices for energy-efficient AI computing. Phase separation, when molecules part like oil and water, works alongside oxygen diffusion to help memristors — electrical components that store information using electrical resistance — retain information even after the power is shut off, according to a University of Michigan led study recently published in Matter.

Up to this point, explanations have not fully grasped how memristors retain information without a power source, known as nonvolatile memory, because models and experiments do not match up.

“While experiments have shown devices can retain information for over 10 years, the models used in the community show that information can only be retained for a few hours,”...

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Carbon Fiber Structural Battery Paves way for Light, Energy-Efficient Vehicles

World's strongest battery paves way for light, energy-efficient vehicles
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have succeeded in creating a battery made of carbon fiber composite that is as stiff as aluminum and energy-dense enough to be used commercially. When cars, planes, ships or computers are built from a material that functions as both a battery and a load-bearing structure, the weight and energy consumption are radically reduced. Credit: Chalmers University of Technology | Henrik Sandsjö

When cars, planes, ships or computers are built from a material that functions as both a battery and a load-bearing structure, the weight and energy consumption are radically reduced...

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Nanostructures enable On-Chip Lightwave-Electronic Frequency Mixer

Illustration of a computer chip, with waves of different colors and frequencies appearing above, below, and across it
The demonstration of a lightwave-electronic mixer at petahertz-scale frquencies is a first step toward making communication technology faster and progresses research toward developing new, miniaturized lightwave electronic circuitry capable of handling optical signals directly at the nanoscale.
Credits:Image: Sampson Wilcox/Research Laboratory of Electronics

Imagine how a phone call works: Your voice is converted into electronic signals, shifted up to higher frequencies, transmitted over long distances, and then shifted back down so it can be heard clearly on the other end. The process enabling this shifting of signal frequencies is called frequency mixing, and it is essential for communication technologies like radio and Wi-Fi...

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