Category Physics

Moderate heating up to 80 °Celsius tilts the magnetic moment associated to a single bit into the plane. Upon cooling to room temperature, the magnetic moment stays in plane, until it is overwritten by a magnetic writing head. Credit: HZB

It paves the way to fast and energy efficient ultrahigh density data storage. Scientists have examined thin films of Dysprosium-Cobalt sputtered onto a nanostructured membrane at BESSY II. New patterns of magnetization could be written in a quick and easy manner after warming the sample to only 80C, which is a much lower temperature as compared to conventional Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording systems.

To increase data density further in storage media, materials systems with stable magnetic domains on the nanoscale are needed...

Diagram showing a solar water heating system using nanoparticles. (b) Application of condensed light from a solar simulator to water with dispersed TiN nanoparticles. Note that rising water vapor can be seen even before the water temperature increases. Credit: Copyright NIMS

A research team in Japan discovered through numerical calculations that nanoparticles of transition metal nitrides and carbides absorb sunlight very efficiently, and confirmed experimentally that nitride nanoparticles, when dispersed in water, quickly raise water temperature. These nanoparticles may be applied for heating and distillation of water through efficient sunlight use.

The examples of sunlight use are power generation using solar cells and water heating through photothermal conversion, a process in which abso...

Highly conductive ultrathin film on skin between clips. Credit: Sam Yoon/Korea University

An ultrathin film that is both transparent and highly conductive to electric current has been produced by a cheap and simple method devised by nanomaterials researchers from the Uni of Illinois at Chicago and Korea University. The film – actually a mat of tangled nanofiber, electroplated to form a “self-junctioned copper nano-chicken wire” – is also bendable and stretchable, offering potential applications in roll-up touchscreen displays, wearable electronics, flexible solar cells and electronic skin.

The new film establishes a “world-record combination of high transparency and low electrical resistance,” the latter at least 10X greater than the previous existing record, said Prof Sam Yoon, Korea Univ...

Mixing light with dye molecules, trapped in golden gaps. Credit: Yi Ju/University of Cambridge NanoPhotonics

Researchers have successfully used quantum states to mix a molecule with light at room temperature, which will aid in the exploration of quantum technologies and provide new ways to manipulate the physical and chemical properties of matter, aid in understanding photosynthesis mechanisms, or manipulate chemical bonds between atoms.

When a molecule emits a blink of light, it doesn’t expect it to ever come back. However researchers have now managed to place single molecules in such a tiny optical cavity that emitted photons, return to the molecule before they have properly left. The energy oscillates between light and molecule, resulting in a complete mixing...