Category Technology/Electronics

This is an example of an inkjet printed rainbow hologram. Credit: ITMO University

This new method is expected to significantly reduce the cost and time needed to create the so-called rainbow holograms, commonly used for security purposes – to protect valuable items, such as credit cards and paper currency, from piracy and falsification.

The team, led by Alexander Vinogradov, SCAMT in ITMO University, developed colorless ink made of nanocrystalline titania, which can be loaded into an inkjet printer and then deposited on special microembossed paper, resulting in unique patterned images. The ink makes it possible to print custom holographic images on transparent film in a matter of minutes, instead of days as with the use of conventional methods.

“The conventional way of preparing a rainbow ...

a) Maximum magnetic field Bc2 (normalized) at which superconductivity can survive versus temperature T. Filled circles are data taken from MoS2 thin films. Without taking into account internal magnetic fields generated by the lattice structure of MoS2, Bc2 cannot exceed 1. b) Taking into account the internal magnetic fields, the experimental data can be well explained theoretically. Credit: The Physics Department, HKUST

Superconductivity is a fascinating quantum phenomenon in which electrons form pairs and flow with 0 resistance. However, strong enough magnetic field can break electron pairs and destroy superconductivity. Surprisingly, experimental groups led by Prof. Ye and Prof...

This schematic shows the concept behind the team’s plant-inspired microrobot. Credit: Image courtesy of American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics

The future of bio-inspired engineering or robotics will greatly benefit from lessons learned from plants eg tiny robots powered exclusively by changes in humidity. To generate motion, plants and some seeds – such as mimosa leaves, Venus flytraps and pine cones – simply harness the supply or deprival of water from plant tissues.

“Some seeds consist of a head that contains all its genetic information, along with a long appendage called an ‘awn’ that is responsible for locomotion – just like an animal’s sperm,” explained Prof Ho-Young Kim...

Paul Klimov, a graduate student in the University of Chicago’s Institute for Molecular Engineering, adjusts the intensity of a laser beam during an experiment. Because the laser light lies within the infrared spectrum, it is invisible to the human eye. Credit: University of Chicago

Entanglement says that 2 particles can be so inextricably connected that the state of one particle can instantly influence the state of the other, no matter how far apart they are. It will be useful for quantum computers, quantum communication networks, and high-precision quantum sensors.
Entanglement is also one of nature’s most elusive phenomena.

Producing entanglement between particles requires that they start out in a highly ordered state, which is disfavored by thermodynamics, the process that governs the i...