Category Physics

Ferromagnetism mediated by Sb or Te atoms. Credit: Hiroshima University

A group of researchers in Japan and China identified the requirements for the development of new types of extremely low power consumption electric devices by studying Cr-doped (Sb, Bi)2Te3 thin films.

At extremely low temperatures, an electric 3current flows around the edge of the film without energy loss, and under no external magnetic field. This attractive phenomenon is due to the material’s ferromagnetic properties. For the first time, researchers have revealed the mechanism by which this occurs. “Hopefully, this achievement will lead to the creation of novel materials that operate at room temperature in the future,” said Prof Akio Kimura.

Their achievement can be traced back to the discovery of the quantum Hall ef...

Fabrication schematic of ordered mesoporous fewlayer carbon (OMFLC). Credit: Science (2015). DOI: 10.1126/science.aab3798

Like a battery, a capacitor is able to hold a charge, unlike a battery, however, it is able to be charged and discharged very quickly—the down side to capacitors is that they cannot hold nearly as much charge/ kg as batteries. The work by the team in China is a step towards increasing the amount of charge that can be held by supercapacitors (capacitors that have much higher capacitance than standard capacitors—they generally employ carbon-based electrodes)—in this case, they report a 3X increase using their new method—noting also that that their supercapacitor was capable of storing 41 watt-hours per kilogram and could deliver 26 kilowatts per kilogram to a device...

This packaged electronic-photonic processor microchip under illumination reveals the chip’s primary features. The light rays emanating from the chip are drawn to show that the processor talks to the outside world using light. Credit: Glenn J. Asakawa, University of Colorado Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-12-demo-processor-ultrafast.html#jCp

Engineers have successfully married electrons and photons within a single-chip microprocessor, a landmark development that opens the door to ultrafast, low-power data crunching. The researchers packed 2 processor cores with >70 million transistors and 850 photonic components onto a 3-by-6-millimeter chip...

At left, a deformed sample of pure metal; at right, the strong new metal made of magnesium with silicon carbide nanoparticles. Each central micropillar is about 4 micrometers across. Credit: UCLA Scifacturing Laboratory

Mg infused with dense ceramic Silicon Carbide nanoparticles could be used for airplanes, cars, mobile electronics, spacecraft, and cars, helping to improve fuel efficiency, as well as in mobile electronics and biomedical devices. It has extremely high specific strength and modulus, or stiffness-to-weight ratio. To create the super-strong but lightweight metal, the team found a new way to disperse and stabilize nanoparticles in molten metals. They also developed a scalable manufacturing method that could pave the way for more high-performance lightweight metals.

“It’s been p...