Category Technology/Electronics

A 32-face 3-D truncated icosahedron mesh was created to test the simulation’s ability to precisely construct complex geometries. The SEM image of the final experimental product (left) was highly consistent with the structure predicted by the virtual SEM image (center) and the simulated design model (right). (hi-res image)

Focused electron beam induced deposition, or FEBID can essentially 3D print at the nanoscale. FEBID uses an electron beam from a scanning electron microscope to condense gaseous precursor molecules into a solid deposit on a surface. Previously, this method was laborious, prone to errors and impractical for creating complex structures larger than a few nanometers...

43Ca+ qubit states and Raman transitions used for sideband cooling, single-qubit and two-qubit gates. Credit: arxiv.org/abs/1512.04600

The team achieved the logic gate, which places 2 atoms in a state of quantum entanglement and is the fundamental building block of quantum computing, with a precision (or fidelity) substantially greater than the previous world record. Quantum entanglement—a phenomenon described by Einstein as ‘spooky’ but which is at the heart of quantum technologies—occurs when 2 particles stay connected, such that an action on one affects the other, even when they are separated by great distances

The precision of the gate is a measure of how well quantum entanglement works: in our case, 99...

This is a blue whirl over water in a swirl generator. Credit: Photo: University of Maryland

Findings could lead to better oil spill cleanup. Fire tornados, or ‘fire whirls,’ pose a powerful and essentially uncontrollable threat to life, property, and the surrounding environment in large urban and wildland fires. But now, a team of researchers in the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering say their discovery of a type of fire tornado they call a ‘blue whirl’ could lead to beneficial new approaches for reducing carbon emissions and improving oil spill cleanup. This previously unobserved flame phenomenon burns nearly soot-free.

“Blue whirls evolve from traditional yellow fire whirls...

Artistic image of light trapped on the surface of a nanoparticle topological insulator. Credit: Vincenzo Giannini

New research suggests it is possible to create a new form of light by binding light to a single electron, combining the properties of both. According to the scientists from Imperial College London, the coupled light and electron would have properties that could lead to circuits that work with photons instead of electrons. It would also allow researchers to study quantum physical phenomena.

In normal materials, light interacts with a whole host of electrons present on the surface and within the material. But by using theoretical physics to model the behaviour of light and topological insulators, they have found that it could interact with just one electron on the surface...