Category Technology/Electronics

A new study has revealed how tiny imperfections and vibrations inside a promising quantum material could be used to control an unusual quantum effect, opening new possibilities for smaller, faster, and more efficient energy-harvesting devices.

The international team, led by Professor Dongchen Qi from the QUT School of Chemistry and Physics and Professor Xiao Renshaw Wang from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, studied the mechanism governing the so-called nonlinear Hall effect (NLHE). The research is published in the journal Newton.

Unlike the classical Hall effect, this quantum version allows alternating electrical signals, like those found in wireless or ambient energy sources, to be converted directly into usable direct current without the need for traditional dio...

Researchers at IMDEA Networks Institute, together with European partners, have found that tire pressure sensors in modern cars can unintentionally expose drivers to tracking. Over a ten-week study, they collected signals from more than 20,000 vehicles, revealing a hidden privacy risk and highlighting the need for stronger security measures in future vehicle sensor systems.

How tire sensors quietly share data
Most modern cars are equipped with a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), mandatory since the late 2000s in many countries for their contribution to road safety...

Recent technological advances have opened new possibilities for the development of advanced medical devices, including tiny robots that can safely move inside the human body. Some of these systems could help to simplify complex medical procedures, including delicate surgeries and the targeted delivery of drugs to specific sites.

THE MINIMAX lab at University of Texas (UT) Austin specializes in the development of tiny robots for medical, environmental, and other applications. In a recent preprint paper on arXiv, researchers from this lab introduced a new 3Dprintable and magnetically steerable capsule robot that could potentially help to diagnose and treat some gastrointestinal (GI) conditions.

“My motivation for GI health monitoring is deeply personal,” Fangzhou Xia, director of ...

LEDs no wider than a human hair could soon take on work traditionally handled by lasers, from moving data inside server racks to powering next-generation displays. New research co-authored by UC Santa Barbara doctoral student Roark Chao points to a practical path forward. The study is published in the journal Optics Express.

“We’re talking about devices that are literally the size of a hair follicle,” said Chao, who studies electrical engineering. “If you can engineer how the light comes out, those microLEDs can start to replace lasers in short-distance data communication.”

The work builds on UCSB’s longstanding strengths in gallium nitride research and optoelectronics...