Category Technology/Electronics

Researchers from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and Empa have developed a new material for an electronic component that can be used in a wider range of applications than its predecessors. Such components will help create electronic circuits that emulate the human brain and that are more efficient at performing machine-​learning tasks.

Compared with computers, the human brain is incredibly energy efficient. Scientists are therefore drawing on how the brain and its interconnected neurons function for inspiration in designing innovative computing technologies...

University of Central Florida researchers are developing new photonic materials that could one day help enable low power, ultra-fast, light-based computing. The unique materials, known as topological insulators, are like wires that have been turned inside out, where the current runs along the outside and the interior is insulated.

Topological insulators are important because they could be used in circuit designs that allow for more processing power to be crammed into a single space without generating heat, thus avoiding the...

New approach paves the way for larger, more complex metalenses. Compact and lightweight metasurfaces — which use specifically designed and patterned nanostructures on a flat surface to focus, shape and control light — are a promising technology for wearable applications, especially virtual and augmented reality systems. Today, research teams painstakingly design the specific pattern of nanostructures on the surface to achieve the desired function of the lens, whether that be resolving nanoscale features, simultaneously producing several depth-perceiving images or focusing light regardless of polarization.

If the metalens is going to be used commercially in AR and VR systems, it’s going to need to be scaled ...

The sun’s enormous energy may soon be harnessed in the dark of night following a significant advance in thermal capture technology.

Solar radiation heats the earth’s crust significantly during daylight hours, but that energy is lost into the coldness of space when the sun goes down.

Now, researchers within the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW Sydney have successfully tested a device capable of converting infrared heat into electrical power.

The team, including members of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, used a power-generation device called a ‘thermo-radiative diode’, which is similar to the technology in night-vision goggles.

Exciton Science Associate Investigator Nicholas Ekins-Daukes, the leader of the research team, said: ...