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    Category Technology/Electronics

    Metamaterial Device allows Chameleon-like Behavior in the Infrared

    October 28, 2016, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    This is an infrared image of metadevice composed of vanadium dioxide with gold patterned mesh. (Top) Device without any electric current showing the PSU cut from the pattern and reflective. (Middle) Device with 2.03 amps

    This is an infrared image of metadevice composed of vanadium dioxide with gold patterned mesh. (Top) Device without any electric current showing the PSU cut from the pattern and reflective. (Middle) Device with 2.03 amps

    An electric current will not only heat a hybrid metamaterial, but will also trigger it to change state and fade into the background like a chameleon in what may be the proof-of-concept of the first controllable metamaterial device, or metadevice. “Previous metamaterials work focused mainly on cloaking objects so they were invisible in the radio frequency or other specific frequencies,” said Douglas H. Werner, John L. and Genevieve H. McCain Chair Professor of electrical engineering, Penn State...

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    Precise Quantum Cloning: Possible Pathway to Secure Communication

    October 27, 2016, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Beam of light passing through splitter. Credit: Lee Henderson/UNSW

    Beam of light passing through splitter. Credit: Lee Henderson/UNSW

    Physicists at ANU and UQ have produced near-perfect clones of quantum information using a new method to surpass previous cloning limits. A global race is on to use quantum physics for ultra-secure encryption over long distances according to Prof Ping Koy Lam, node director of ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T) at ANU. The new cloning method uses high performance optical amplifiers to clone light encoded with quantum information – it is possible this technique could allow quantum encryption to be implemented with existing fibre optic infrastructure.

    “One obstacle to sending quantum information is that the quantum state degrades before reaching its destination...

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    3D-Printed Structures Shrink when Heated

    October 26, 2016, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics, Chemistry/Nanotechnology

    3d-printed-structures-shrink-when-heated-science-astronomy-medical-news-up_2016-10-26_14-15-26

    (a) Schematic of the multimaterial projection microstereolithography system. [(b) and (e)] Computer-aided designs and fabricated samples in [(c) and (f)] three-dimensional and [(d) and (g)] two-dimensional views of the fabricated unit cell and 2 by 2 lattice, respectively.

    Counterintuitive ‘metamaterial’ may enable heat-resistant circuit boards. Almost all solid materials, from rubber and glass to granite and steel, inevitably expand when heated. Only in very rare instances do certain materials buck this thermodynamic trend and shrink with heat. Eg, cold water will contract when heated 0 – 4C, before expanding. Engineers from MIT, the University of Southern California, and elsewhere are now adding to this curious class of heat-shrinking materials...

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    3D-printed Magnets: How can you produce a Magnet with exactly the right magnetic field?

    October 26, 2016, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    A magentic cup-like shape, created in the 3D-printer. Credit: Image courtesy of Vienna University of Technology

    A magentic cup-like shape, created in the 3D-printer. Credit: Image courtesy of Vienna University of Technology

    For the 1st time, magnets can be made with a 3D printer. It is difficult to produce a permanent magnet with a magnetic field of a specific pre-determined shape. That is, until now, thanks to TU Wien: for the first time ever, permanent magnets can be produced using a 3D printer. This allows magnets to be produced in complex forms and precisely customised magnetic fields, required, for example, in magnetic sensors.

    “The strength of a magnetic field is not the only factor,” says Dieter Süss, Head of Christian-Doppler Advanced Magnetic Sensing and Materials lab, TU Wien...

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