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Category: nanotechnology – Page 150

New quantum light source paves the way to a quantum internet

Conventional light sources for fiber-optic telecommunications emit many photons at the same time. Photons are particles of light that move as waves. In today €™s telecommunication networks, information is transmitted by modulating the properties of light waves traveling in optical fibers, similar to how radio waves are modulated in AM and FM channels.

In quantum communication, however, information is encoded in the phase of a single photon – the photon €™s position in the wave in which it travels. This makes it possible to connect quantum sensors in a network spanning great distances and to connect quantum computers together.

Researchers recently produced single-photon sources with operating wavelengths compatible with existing fiber communication networks. They did so by placing molybdenum ditelluride semiconductor layers just atoms thick on top of an array of nano-size pillars (Nature Communications, “Site-Controlled Telecom-Wavelength Single-Photon Emitters in Atomically-thin MoTe 2 ”).

Nanotech strategy shows promise for treating autoimmune disease

Scientists at Scripps Research have reported success in initial tests of a new, nanotech-based strategy against autoimmune diseases.

The scientists, who reported their results in ACS Nano, engineered cell-like “” that target only the driving an autoimmune reaction, leaving the rest of the immune system intact and healthy. The nanoparticles greatly delayed, and in some animals even prevented, in a mouse model of arthritis.

“The potential advantage of this approach is that it would enable safe, long-term treatment for where the immune system attacks its own tissues or organs—using a method that won’t cause broad immune suppression, as current treatments do,” says study senior author James Paulson, Ph.D., Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Chair of Chemistry in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research.

Engineered nanoparticles can help phytoplankton kidnap the excess CO2 on Earth

The solution to our carbon problem is floating in the oceans.

Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms (can be bacteria, algae, or plants) that perform photosynthesis in oceans and eliminate excess carbon dioxide from Earth’s atmosphere. They sequester about 40 percent of the total carbon produced every year globally and, therefore, also play a major role in mitigating global warming.

A team of researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has proposed that by feeding engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) as fertilizers to phytoplankton. Humans can increase the growth of these microorganisms in oceans and eventually fix more CO2 from Earth than ever.

Seemingly Impossible: Nanostructure Compresses Light 10,000 Times Thinner Than a Human Hair

Until recently, physicists widely believed that it was impossible to compress light below the so-called diffraction limit, except when utilizing metal nanoparticles, which also absorb light. As a result, it seemed to be impossible to compress light strongly in dielectric materials like silicon, which are essential for information technologies and had the significant advantage of not absorbing light. Interestingly, it was theoretically shown that the diffraction limit does not apply to dielectrics back in 2006. However, no one has been able to demonstrate this in the actual world due to the fact that it requires such complex nanotechnology that no one has yet been able to create the required dielectric nanostructures.

A research team from the Technical University of Denmark has created a device known as a “dielectric nanocavity” that successfully concentrates light in a volume 12 times smaller than the diffraction limit. The finding is groundbreaking in optical research and was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

Nature Communications is a peer-reviewed, open access, multidisciplinary, scientific journal published by Nature Research. It covers the natural sciences, including physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, and earth sciences. It began publishing in 2010 and has editorial offices in London, Berlin, New York City, and Shanghai.

How to fire projectiles through materials without breaking anything

When charged particles are shot through ultra-thin layers of material, sometimes spectacular micro-explosions occur, and sometimes the material remains almost intact. The reasons for this have now been explained by researchers at the TU Wien.

It sounds a bit like a : Some materials can be shot through with fast, electrically charged ions without exhibiting holes afterwards. What would be impossible at the macroscopic level is allowed at the level of individual particles. However, not all materials behave the same in such situations—in recent years, different research groups have conducted experiments with very different results.

At the TU Wien (Vienna, Austria), it has now been possible to find a detailed explanation of why some materials are perforated and others are not. This is interesting, for example, for the processing of thin membranes, which are supposed to have tailor-made nano-pores in order to trap, hold or let through very specific atoms or molecules there.

Light-Powered Nanomaterial Catalyst Could Be Key for Hydrogen Economy

A key light-activated nanomaterial for the hydrogen economy has been engineered by researchers at Rice University. Using only inexpensive raw materials, scientists created a scalable catalyst that needs only the power of light to convert ammonia into clean-burning hydrogen fuel.

“This discovery paves the way for sustainable, low-cost hydrogen that could be produced locally rather than in massive centralized plants.” —

The research, which was published on November 24 in the journal Science, was conducted by a team from Rice’s Laboratory for Nanophotonics, Syzygy Plasmonics Inc., and Princeton University.

Nano-robot antibodies that fight cancer enter first human drug trial

Scientists in Israel have created the first nano-robot antibodies designed to fight cancer. The first human trial for the new nano-robots will start soon, and it will determine just how effective the antibodies are. What is special about these particular antibodies, too, is that they are programmed to decide whether cells surrounding tumors are “bad” or “good.”

The trial is currently underway in Australia and if it goes according to plan, the nano-robot antibodies will be able to fight cells around tumors that can help the tumor while also boosting the capability of the cells inhibiting the growth of the cancerous cells. The antibodies were invented by Professor Yanay Ofran and are based on human and animal antibodies.

The goal of these nano-robot antibodies is to unlock the full potential that antibodies offer, Ofran says. Currently, the use of antibodies in medicine only utilizes a fraction of the capabilities offered by these natural disease fighters. As such, finding a way to maximize their capability has been a long-term goal for quite a while.

Spin correlation between paired electrons demonstrated

Physicists at the University of Basel have experimentally demonstrated for the first time that there is a negative correlation between the two spins of an entangled pair of electrons from a superconductor. For their study, the researchers used spin filters made of nanomagnets and quantum dots, as they report in the scientific journal Nature.

The entanglement between two particles is among those phenomena in that are hard to reconcile with everyday experiences. If entangled, certain properties of the two particles are closely linked, even when far apart. Albert Einstein described entanglement as a “spooky action at a distance.” Research on entanglement between light particles (photons) was awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics.

Two can be entangled as well—for example in their spins. In a superconductor, the electrons form so-called Cooper pairs responsible for the lossless electrical currents and in which the individual spins are entangled.

Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics

Circa 2020 Basically this means a magnetic transistor can have not only quantum properties but also it can have nearly infinite speeds for processing speeds. Which means we can have nanomachines with near infinite speeds eventually.

Abstract The discovery of spin superfluidity in antiferromagnetic superfluid 3He is a remarkable discovery associated with the name of Andrey Stanislavovich Borovik-Romanov. After 30 years, quantum effects in a magnon gas (such as the magnon Bose–Einstein condensate and spin superfluidity) have become quite topical. We consider analogies between spin superfluidity and superconductivity. The results of quantum calculations using a 53-bit programmable superconducting processor have been published quite recently[1]. These results demonstrate the advantage of using the quantum algorithm of calculations with this processor over the classical algorithm for some types of calculations. We consider the possibility of constructing an analogous (in many respecys) processor based on spin superfluidity.

Novel nanowire fabrication technique paves way for next generation spintronics

9 nov 2022.

The challenge of fabricating nanowires directly on silicon substrates for the creation of the next generation of electronics has finally been solved by researchers from Tokyo Tech. Next-generation spintronics will lead to better memory storage mechanisms in computers, making them faster and more efficient.

As our world modernizes faster than ever before, there is an ever-growing need for better and faster electronics and computers. Spintronics is a new system which uses the spin of an electron, in addition to the charge state, to encode data, making the entire system faster and more efficient. Ferromagnetic nanowires with high coercivity (resistance to changes in magnetization) are required to realize the potential of spintronics. Especially L 10-ordered (a type of crystal structure) cobalt-platinum (CoPt) nanowires.

Conventional fabrication processes for L 10-ordered nanowires involve heat treatment to improve the physical and chemical properties of the material, a process called annealing on the crystal substrate; the transfer of a pattern onto the substrate through lithography; and finally the chemical removal of layers through a process called etching. Eliminating the etching process by directly fabricating nanowires onto the silicon substrate would lead to a marked improvement in the fabrication of spintronic devices. However, when directly fabricated nanowires are subjected to annealing, they tend to transform into droplets as a result of the internal stresses in the wire.