Category Technology/Electronics

An illustration of refraction through a normal optical medium versus what it would look like for a medium capable of negative refraction. —Photo courtesy of Cory Dean

Engineers have directly observed for the first time negative refraction for electrons passing across a boundary between 2 regions in a conducting material. First predicted in 2007, this effect has been difficult to confirm experimentally. The electrons in the atomically thin material behave like light rays, which can be manipulated by such optical devices as lenses and prisms. The findings could lead to the development of new types of electron switches, based on principles of optics rather than electronics.

“The ability to manipulate electrons in a conducting material like light rays opens up entirely new ways of thinking a...

SEM – model of a metallic nano-network with periodic arrangement ( left) and visual representation of a fractal pattern (right). Credit: M. Giersig/HZB

HZB scientist Prof. Michael Giersig has recently demonstrated for these applications that networks of metallic mesh possessing fractal-like nano-features surpass other metallic networks in utility. These findings have now been published in the most recent edition of the journal Nature Communications.

Their new development is based on what is termed quasi-fractal nano-features. These structures have similarities to the hierarchical networks of veins in leaves. Giersig’s team was able to show that metallic networks with these features optimise performance of electrodes for several applications...

A chemical design strategy for creating artificial multiferroics using oxide nanosheets. Credit: NIMS

Multiferroics are expected to play a vital role in the development of next-generation multifunctional electronic devices. The design of new multiferroics, or materials that display both ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism, is of fundamental importance for new electronic technologies. However, the co-existence of ferroelectricity and magnetic order at room temperature in single compounds is rare, and heterostructures with such multiferroic properties have only been made with complex techniques (such as pulsed-laser deposition and molecular beam epitaxy).

Seeking to develop room-temperature multiferroics, the research group utilized a new chemical design for artificial multiferroic thin film...

TagItSmart project

Traceable consumer products and entertaining solutions are about to become part of our everyday lives, particularly in food packaging or, say, textiles and household appliances. Through the TagItSmart project, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is developing functional inks which can be used to add variable codes to products. For example, using such a code a mug can notify a consumer of the temperature of a drink, or packaging can notify of the ‘best before’ date and the product origin and country of production.

Functional inks are used for the printing of 2D codes on various products...