Category Physics

A laser pulse hits nickel (green). Spin-up-electrons (red) change into silicon (yellow). Electrons with both spin-orientations change back from silicon into nickel. Credit: Image courtesy of Vienna University of Technology, TU Vienna

They are essential for spintronics, a technology that could replace today’s electronics.For years scientists have been working on elements using electrons angular momentum (their spin) rather than their electrical charge. This new approach, “spintronics” has major advantages compared to common electronics. It can operate with much less energy. TU Wien (Vienna) scientists have now proposed a new method to produce gigantic spin currents in a very small period of time. The secret is using ultra short laser pulses.

For every electron, 2 different spin-states are p...

Atoms in silicon dioxide are hit by the yellow light wave (from the left) causing the electrons around each atom to oscillate. This displacement absorbs energy from the light wave. At the end of the cycles the absorbed energy is returned to the light wave. Recording of the temporal evolution of the light field after passage through the sample allows the first real-time observation of the attosecond-speed electron motion inside solids. Credit: Image courtesy of Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics

Light waves might be able to drive future transistors. The electromagnetic waves of light oscillate approximately 1M times in a billionth of a second, hence with petahertz frequencies. In principle also future electronics could reach this speed and become 100...

E band transmitters with parabolic antenna. The installed integrated circuits achieve particularly high performance. Credit: © Photo Jörg Eisenbeis, KIT

Transmitting the contents of a conventional DVD in <10s by radio transmission is incredibly fast – and a new world record in wireless data transmission. With a data rate of 6 Gb/s over 37km, a collaborative project ACCESS (Advanced E Band Satellite Link Studies) with researchers from University of Stuttgart and Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF exceeded the state of the art by a factor of 10.

The team achieved the record data transmission on a stretch between Cologne and Wachtberg...

The RoboBee, pioneered at the Harvard Microrobotics Lab, uses an electrode patch and a foam mount that absorbs shock. The entire mechanism weighs 13.4 mg, bringing the total weight of the robot to about 100mg — similar to the weight of a real bee. The robot takes off and flies normally. When the electrode patch is supplied with a charge, it can stick to almost any surface, from glass to wood to a leaf. To detach, the power supply is simply switched off. Credit: Harvard Microrobotics Lab/Harvard University

New system extends the lives of flying microrobots. Call them the RoboBats. In a recent article in Science, Harvard roboticists demonstrate that their flying microrobots, nicknamed RoboBees, can now perch during flight to save energy – like bats, birds or butterflies...