Category Technology/Electronics

‘One-Way’ Electronic Devices enter the Mainstream

Microphotograph of the Columbia Engineering single-chip circulator with watt-level power handling.

Engineers are the first to build a high-performance non-reciprocal device on a compact chip with a performance 25 times better than previous work. The new chip, which can handle several watts of power (enough for cellphone transmitters that put out a watt or so of power), was the leading performer in a DARPA SPAR program to miniaturize these devices and improve performance metrics.

Waves, whether they are light waves, sound waves, or any other kind, travel in the same manner in forward and reverse directions — this is known as the principle of reciprocity...

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Scientists use Light to Accelerate Supercurrents, access Forbidden Light, Quantum World

This illustration shows light wave acceleration of supercurrents, which gives researchers access to a new class of quantum phenomena. That access could chart a path forward for practical quantum computing, sensing and communicating applications. Larger image. Image courtesy of Jigang Wang.

Scientists are using light waves to accelerate supercurrents and access the unique properties of the quantum world, including forbidden light emissions that one day could be applied to high-speed, quantum computers, communications and other technologies.

The scientists have seen unexpected things in supercurrents – electricity that moves through materials without resistance, usually at super cold temperatures – that break symmetry and are supposed to be forbidden by the conventional laws of physic...

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Observation of Intervalley Transitions can boost Valleytronic Science and Technology

Multipath Optical Recombination of Intervalley Dark Excitons and Trions in Monolayer WSe2. Physical Review Letters, 2020; 124 (19) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.196802

An international research team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has observed light emission from a new type of transition between electronic valleys, known as intervalley transmissions. The research provides a new way to read out valley information, potentially leading to new types of devices.

Current semiconductor technology uses electronic charge or spin to store and process information; the associated technologies are called electronics and spintronics, respectively...

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Speeding up Long-Range Coherent LiDAR

Johann Riemensberger, Anton Lukashchuk, Maxim Karpov, Wenle Weng, Erwan Lucas, Junqiu Liu, Tobias J. Kippenberg. Massively parallel coherent laser ranging using soliton microcombs, Nature 13 May 2020. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2239-3

LiDAR is a technique used for measuring distances with laser light. Researchers now show a new way to speedup a type of LiDAR engine by using photonic circuits. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) comprised an array of techniques using laser light to measure distances by multiplying the time delay between transmitted and received optical signals with the speed of light. Modern 3D LiDAR sensors combine high lateral/vertical and radial resolution, and are key components in the ongoing revolution of level 4 and 5 self-driving cars.

The prominence of 3D LiDAR...

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