Category Technology/Electronics

Breaking through the Resolution Barrier with Quantum-limited Precision

Photo (Paderborn University, Besim Mazhiqi). 

Researchers develop new method of measurement. Researchers at Paderborn University have developed a new method of distance measurement for systems such as GPS, which achieves more precise results than ever before. Using quantum physics, the team led by Leibniz Prize winner Professor Christine Silberhorn has successfully overcome the so-called resolution limit, which causes the “noise” we may see in photos, for example. Their findings have just been published in the academic journal Physical Review X Quantum (PRX Quantum).

Physicist Dr Benjamin Brecht explains the problem of the resolution limit: “In laser distance measurements a detector registers two light pulses of different intensities with a time difference...

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Supercapacitors challenge Batteries

graphene hybrid

Powerful graphene hybrid material for highly efficient supercapacitors. A team working with Roland Fischer, Professor of Inorganic and Metal-Organic Chemistry at the Technical University Munich (TUM) has developed a highly efficient supercapacitor. The basis of the energy storage device is a novel, powerful and also sustainable graphene hybrid material that has comparable performance data to currently utilized batteries.

Usually, energy storage is associated with batteries and accumulators that provide energy for electronic devices. However, in laptops, cameras, cellphones or vehicles, so-called supercapacitors are increasingly installed these days.

Unlike batteries they can quickly store large amounts of energy and put it out just as fast...

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Putty-like Composites of Gallium metal with potential for Real-World Application

Figure 1.
(a) Liquid gallium being poured into a container. (b) Gallium putty being molded into a ball. (c) Various figures made from gallium putty. (d) Gallium putty being cut by a blade. (e) The mechanism of formation of gallium putty involves filler particles being encapsulated by a gallium oxide layer and incorporated into the gallium.

Researchers created a novel functional composite of gallium with putty or paste-like physical properties. The composite possesses excellent electromagnetic shielding as well as thermal conductivity. Gallium is a highly useful element that has accompanied the advancement of human civilization throughout the 20th century. Gallium is designated as a technologically critical element, as it is essential for the fabrication of semiconductors and transistors...

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Extremely Energy Efficient Microprocessor developed using Superconductors

Extremely energy efficient microprocessor developed using superconductors
AQFP MANA microprocessor die photo. MANA is the world’s first adiabatic superconductor microprocessor. Credit: Yokohama National University

Researchers from Yokohama National University in Japan have developed a prototype microprocessor using superconductor devices that are about 80 times more energy efficient than the state-of-the-art semiconductor devices found in the microprocessors of today’s high-performance computing systems.

As today’s technologies become more and more integrated in our daily lives, the need for more computational power is ever increasing. Because of this increase, the energy use of that increasing computational power is growing immensely...

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