Category Technology/Electronics

 

Light waves trapped on a metal’s surface, ie surface plasmons, travel farther than expected, up to 250 microns from the source. While this distance is just 1-100th of an inch, it is far enough to possibly be useful in ultra-fast electronic circuits. Scientists captured the surface plasmons’ travel on video. Future computer circuits could use this phenomenon as interconnects.

Specially designed, extremely small metal structures can trap light. Once trapped, the light becomes a confined wave known as a surface plasmon. The plasmons can propagate almost as fast as light through the air.

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory experimentally showcased the unique ability to study a surface plasmon...

Read More

 

“It can potentially revolutionize lighting technology,” said Assistant Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Zhibin Yu. “In general, the cost of LED lighting has been a big concern thus far. Energy savings have not balanced out high costs. This could change that.”

Yu developed this new LED technology using a combination of organic and inorganic materials. The material, which dissolves and can be applied like paint, shines a blue, green or red light and can be used to make a light bulb. But what makes it really special is that it’s far simpler to manufacture than existing products on the market.

Most LED materials require engineers to put 4 or 5 layers of material on top of each other to create the desired product or effect. Yu’s material only requires 1 layer.

The res...

Read More

Learn about our real Journey To Mars  and Asteroid as well.

The film “The Martian” takes the work NASA and others have done exploring Mars and extends it into fiction set in the 2030s, when NASA astronauts are regularly traveling to Mars and living on the surface. NASA has collaborated on this film with 20th Century Fox Entertainment, providing guidance on production design and technical consultants

So whats happening in real life? NASA is developing the capabilities needed to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars in the 2030s. NASA will send a robotic mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will explore the asteroid in the 2020s, returning to Earth with samples...

Read More

The new Artificial Leaf JCAP system has 3 main components: 2 electrodes–one photoanode and one photocathode, and a membrane. The photoanode uses sunlight to oxidize water molecules, generating protons and electrons as well as oxygen gas. The photocathode recombines the protons and electrons to form H2...

Read More