Category Technology/Electronics

A short laser pulse can ionize a helium atom and change the quantum state of the remaining electron.

When a quantum system changes its state, this is called a quantum jump. Usually, these quantum jumps are considered to be instantaneous. Now, new methods for high-precision measurements allow us to study the time evolution of these quantum jumps. On a time scale of attoseconds, there time structure becomes visible. It is he most accurate time measurement of quantum jumps to date. Quantum particles can change their state very quickly, ie “quantum jump”. An atom, for example, can absorb a photon, thereby changing into a state of higher energy. With new methods, developed at TU Wien (Vienna), it is now possible to study the time structure of such extremely fast state changes...

A scanning tunneling microscope image shows two three-wheeled nanoroadsters created at Rice University and tested at the University of Graz. The light-activated roadsters, next to their molecular models, reached a top speed of 23 nanometers per hour. Credit: Alex Saywell/Leonhard Grill

Scientists are driving 3-wheeled, single-molecule “nanoroadsters” with light and, for the first time, seeing how they move. The Rice lab of nanocar inventor and chemist James Tour synthesized light-driven nanocars 6 years ago, but with the aid of experimental physicists in Austria, they’re now able to drive fleets of single-molecule vehicles at once...

Fraunhofer researchers have developed an energy-saving display that reduces the power consumption to a fraction. Credit: © Photo Fraunhofer FEP

Data glasses mirror information to the eye without interfering with the wearer’s vision. However, the battery runs down quickly as the electronics consume a great amount of electricity while playing back images. Fraunhofer researchers have developed an energy-saving display that reduces the power consumption to a fraction. Via a small display, data glasses present the eye with information or images which are received using a radio link from the frame of the glasses.

The big advantage: With data glasses, the wearer’s hands are free – in contrast, a smartphone has to be held in the hand. This may be interesting for mechanics...

A newly developed wing architecture could greatly simplify the manufacturing process and reduce fuel consumption by improving the wing’s aerodynamics. It is based on a system of tiny, lightweight subunits that could be assembled by a team of small specialized robots, and could ultimately be used to build the entire airframe. Credit: Kenneth Cheung/NASA

High-tech wizardry by MIT and NASA engineers will allow some aircraft to return to their roots, with a new kind of bendable, “morphing” wing. Wright brothers accomplished their first powered flight more than a century ago, and controlled the motion of their Flyer 1 aircraft using wires and pulleys that bent and twisted the wood-and-canvas wings...