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    Category Physics

    Engineering for High-Speed Devices

    March 31, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    If you use a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, then you benefit from research in photonics, the study of light. The research involved fabricating devices at UD’s Nanofabrication Facility.
    Credit: Kathy F. Atkinson

    New research explores graphene-silicon devices for photonics applications. If you use a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, then you benefit from research in photonics, the study of light. At the University of Delaware, a team led by Tingyi Gu, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is developing cutting-edge technology for photonics devices that could enable faster communications between devices and thus, the people who use them.

    The research group recently engineered a silicon-graphene device that can transmit radiofrequency waves in less than a picoseco...

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    New approach could boost energy capacity of lithium batteries

    March 30, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    Molecular diagram shows the structure of molybdenum sulfide, one of the materials used to create the new kind of cathode for lithium-sulfur batteries.
    Credit: Image courtesy of the researchers

    ‘Hybrid’ cathodes could provide more power for a given weight and volume. Researchers around the globe have been on a quest for batteries that pack a punch but are smaller and lighter than today’s versions, potentially enabling electric cars to travel further or portable electronics to run for longer without recharging. Now, researchers at MIT and in China say they’ve made a major advance in this area, with a new version of a key component for lithium batteries, the cathode.

    The team describes their concept as a “hybrid” cathode, because it combines aspects of two different approaches that have b...

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    Spintronics: Ultra-Short Spin Waves in an astoundingly Simple Material

    March 28, 2019, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    An ultrashort spin wave (red) running through a nickel iron layer. Towards the center of the layer, the magnetic direction (blue arrows) swings only up and down in a sort of knot, while the motion in the other parts remains circular — with opposing sense of magnetic rotation.
    Credit: HZDR / Juniks

    Due to its potential to make computers faster and smartphones more efficient, spintronics is considered a promising concept for the future of electronics. In a collaboration including the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), a team of researchers has now successfully generated so-called spin waves much more easily and efficiently than was previously deemed possible...

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    Engineers demonstrate Metamaterials that can Solve Equations

    March 24, 2019, Categories  Physics


    University of Pennsylvania Engineers have designed a metamaterial device that can solve integral equations. The device works by encoding parameters into the properties of an incoming electromagnetic wave; once inside, the device’s unique structure manipulates the wave in such a way that it exits encoded with the solution to a pre-set integral equation for that arbitrary input.
    Credit: Eric Sucar

    Engineers have designed a metamaterial device that can solve integral equations. The device works by encoding parameters into the properties of an incoming electromagnetic wave; once inside, the device’s unique structure manipulates the wave in such a way that it exits encoded with the solution to a pre-set integral equation for that arbitrary input.

    The field of metamaterials involves desig...

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