Category Technology/Electronics

This computer-generated model shows the spherical core of the quantum dot nanoparticle (in red) along with the ‘flying saucer’ shape of the outer shell (in yellow). The tension in the core induced by the shell affects the electronic states and lowers the energy threshold required to trigger the laser. Credit: Alex Voznyy

Research team ‘squashes’ the shape of nanoparticles, enabling inexpensive lasers that continuously emit light in a customized rainbow of colors. Fresh insights into living cells, brighter video projectors and more accurate medical tests are just 3 of the innovations that could result from a new way of fabricating lasers...

These are examples of the silk used in experiments to detect damage in composites, shown under black light. (Left) Ordinary fibroin of the Bombyx mori silk worm. The observed fluorescence is the result of molecules already present in the protein structure of the fiber. (Middle) Mechanophore-labeled silk fiber fluoresces in response to damage or stress. (Right) Control sample without the mechanophore. Credit: Chelsea Davis and Jeremiah Woodcock/NIST

Researchers have found a way to use molecules of dye to see inside some of the new composite materials being tested for bridges, cars and sporting goods. What’s needed are new lightweight, energy-saving composites that won’t crack or break even after prolonged exposure to environmental or structural stress...

Researchers may have a new solution to your slow wifi.
Credit: © wladimir1804 / Fotolia

Research team gets a speed of 42.8 Gbit/s with a ray of light in an optical wireless network. Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology have come up with a surprising solution: a wireless network based on harmless infrared rays. The capacity is not only huge (more than 40Gbit/s per ray) but also there is no need to share since every device gets its own ray of light. This was the subject for which TU/e researcher Joanne Oh received her PhD degree with the ‘cum laude’ distinction last week.

The system is simple and, in principle, cheap to set up...

This is a sample of transparent polycrystalline cubic silicon nitride with a diameter of approximately two millimeters, synthesized at DESY. Credit: Norimasa Nishiyama, DESY/Tokyo Tech

Scientists synthesize 1st sample of transparent silicon nitride, ie popular industrial ceramic DESY.The result is a super-hard window made of cubic silicon nitride that can potentially be used under extreme conditions like in engines. Cubic silicon nitride (c-Si3N4) forms under high pressure and is the 2nd hardest transparent nanoceramic after diamond but can withstand substantially higher temperatures.

“Silicon nitride is a very popular ceramic in industry,” explains lead author Dr. Norimasa Nishiyama from DESY, now is an associate professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology...