Category Physics

Thin films of crystalline materials called perovskites provide a promising new way of making inexpensive and efficient solar cells. Now, an international team of researchers has shown a way of flipping a chemical switch that converts one type of perovskite into another — a type that has better thermal stability and is a better light absorber. Credit: Padture Lab / Brown University

Thin films of crystalline materials, perovskites provide a promising new way of making inexpensive and efficient solar cells. An international team has shown a way of flipping a chemical switch that converts one type of perovskite into another – a type that has better thermal stability and is a better light absorber...

Some rare atoms can store quantum information, an important phenomenon for scientists in their ongoing quest for a quantum Internet. New research exploits a system that has the potential to transfer optical quantum information to locally stored solid-state quantum format, needed for quantum communication.

“Our research aims at creating a quantum analog of current fiber optic technology in which light is used to transfer classical information — bits with values zero or one — between computers,” said author Dirk Bouwmeester, a professor in UCSB’s Department of Physics. “The rare earth atoms we’re studying can store the superpositions of 0 and 1 used in quantum computation. In addition, the light by which we communicate with these atoms can also store quantum information.”

Rare earth element...

The vial contains liquid-metal particles suspended in ethanol. The particles were used to demonstrate heat-free soldering. Credit: Christopher Gannon/Iowa State University

One of the latest innovations from Thuo’s lab is finding a way to make micro-scale, liquid-metal particles that can be used for heat-free soldering plus the fabricating, repairing and processing of metals – all at room temperature. He’s worked with Tevis to launch SAFI-Tech which plans to locate to the Iowa State Economic Development StartUp Factory when it opens in the ISU Research Park later this year. The project started as a search for a way to stop liquid metal from returning to a solid – even below the metal’s melting point...

Development of a low-cost, high-performance ferromagnetic alloy and significant improvement in thermoelectric conversion efficiency. Conventionally, expensive platinum was used as the electrode material to extract electric power in a spin Seebeck thermoelectric device. This time, new cobalt alloys were developed to replace the platinum. As a result, the cost was significantly reduced. Furthermore, the combination of the thermoelectric effect termed the “Anomalous Nernst Effect,” appearing due to the ferromagnetic properties added to the cobalt alloys and the spin Seebeck effect, have improved the thermoelectric conversion efficiency by more than 10 times. Credit: NEC Corporation

A thermoelectric (TE) device using cutting edge thermoelectric conversion technology has been created by a team ...