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    Category Technology/Electronics

    A Reconfigurable Device based on 2D van der Waals Heterostructures that works both as a Transistor and Memory

    December 9, 2022, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    A reconfigurable device based on 2D van der Waals heterostructures that works both as a transistor and memory
    Schematic structure of the PFGFET created by the researchers, which is made from graphene (mauve, the partial floating gate), hexagonal boron nitride (green and purple) and tungsten diselenide (red and blue, the channel). The PFGFET can act as a memory with forwards and backwards transfer characteristics and as a transistor. The device has a source electrode (S) and a drain electrode (D), and is controlled by two of the terminals of the device: the control gate (CG) and the top gate (TG). Credit: Sun et al, Nature Electronics (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-022-00858-z

    One key objective of electronics engineering research is to develop computing devices that are both highly performing and energy-efficient, meaning that they can compute information quickly while consuming little power...

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    Harvesting Light to Grow Food and Clean Energy Together

    December 9, 2022, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Biology/Biotechnology, Environment/Geology

    solar filters emit a red light over tomato plants in an outdoor research field at UC Davis
    Solar filters emit a red light over tomato plants growing in a research field at UC Davis in 2022. The work further tests the findings of a UC Davis study showing plants in agrivoltaic systems respond best to the red spectrum of light while blue light is better used for energy production. (Andre Daccache/UC Davis)

    Different light spectra serve different needs for agrivoltaics. People are increasingly trying to grow both food and clean energy on the same land to help meet the challenges of climate change, drought and a growing global population that just topped 8 billion. This effort includes agrivoltaics, in which crops are grown under the shade of solar panels, ideally with less water.

    Now scientists from the University of California, Davis, are investigating how to better harvest ...

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    Building Energy-Efficient Computing Platforms

    December 6, 2022, Categories  Technology/Electronics

    Building energy-efficient computing platforms
    Images of the electronic platform used in the studies. Credit: CeNSE, IISc

    The massive growth of data centers that consume enormous amounts of energy has contributed significantly to power shortages worldwide. With rising demand for faster and more intelligent computers and devices, there is a pressing need to develop alternatives to traditional electronic components that will make these devices more energy-efficient.

    In two recent studies, researchers at the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), IISc, report the development of a highly energy-efficient computing platform that offers promise in building next-generation electronic devices.

    Instead of using complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) which are the building blocks of most electronic circuits today, th...

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    Changing the Color of Quantum light on an Integrated Chip

    December 2, 2022, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    illustration of phase modulator.
    Changing the color of single photons using an integrated phase modulator. (Credit: Loncar Lab/Harvard SEAS)

    Optical photons are ideal carriers of quantum information. But to work together in a quantum computer or network, they need to have the same color—or frequency—and bandwidth. Changing a photon’s frequency requires altering its energy, which is particularly challenging on integrated photonic chips.

    Recently, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) developed an integrated electro-optic modulator that can efficiently change the frequency and ‘bandwidth of single photons. The device could be used for more advanced quantum computing and quantum networks.

    The research is published in Light: Science & Applications.

    Conv...

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