Lifeboat Foundation

The advent of quantum computers promises to revolutionize computing by solving complex problems exponentially more rapidly than classical computers. However, today’s quantum computers face challenges such as maintaining stability and transporting quantum information.

Phonons, which are quantized vibrations in periodic lattices, offer new ways to improve these systems by enhancing qubit interactions and providing more reliable information conversion. Phonons also facilitate better communication within quantum computers, allowing the interconnection of them in a network.

Nanophononic materials, which are artificial nanostructures with specific phononic properties, will be essential for next-generation quantum networking and communication devices. However, designing phononic crystals with desired vibration characteristics at the nano-and micro-scales remains challenging.

A team of scientists from the University of Sharjah say they have invented a biosensor capable of detecting the gene mutations responsible for the loss of hearing.

Luminescence refers to the result of a process in which an object absorbs light at one wavelength and then re-emits it at another wavelength. Through light absorption, electrons in the ground state of the material are excited to a higher energy state. After a certain amount of time characteristic of each excited state, the electrons decay to lower energy states, including the ground state, and emit light. The phenomenon is used in a wide array of technological applications involving highly efficient and reproducible emitting devices that can easily be miniaturized.

The materials with the highest luminescence efficiency include quantum dots (QDs), currently used in high-resolution displays, LEDs, solar panels, and sensors of various kinds, such as those used for precision medical imaging. Functionalization of the surface of QDs with various types of molecules permits interaction with cellular structures or other molecules of interest for the purpose of investigating molecular-level biological processes.

QDs are semiconductor nanoparticles whose emissive characteristics are directly linked to dot size, owing to the phenomenon of quantum confinement. For this reason, monitoring and control of crystal growth during synthesis of QDs in solution permits intelligent planning of the desired luminescence.

Discover the fascinating world of nanotechnology and its impact on our lives. Learn about the science on a tiny scale and how it revolutionizes medicine, electronics, and everyday products.

Machines have evolved to meet the demands of daily life and industrial use, with molecular-scale devices often exhibiting improved functionalities and mechanical movements. However, mastering the control of mechanics within solid-state molecular structures remains a significant challenge.

Researchers at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea have made a groundbreaking discovery that could pave the way for revolutionary advancements in data storage and beyond. Led by Professor Wonyoung Choe in the Department of Chemistry at UNIST), a team of scientists has developed zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) that mimic intricate machines. These molecular-scale devices can exhibit precise control over nanoscale mechanical movements, opening up exciting new possibilities in nanotechnology.

The findings have been published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition (“Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks as Solid-State Nanomachines”).

Magnetization can be switched with a single laser pulse. However, it is not known whether the underlying microscopic process is scalable to the nanometer length scale, a prerequisite for making this technology competitive for future data storage applications. Researchers at the Max Born Institute in Berlin, Germany, in collaboration with colleagues at the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales in Madrid, Spain, and the free-electron laser facility FERMI in Trieste, Italy, have determined a fundamental spatial limit for light-driven magnetization reversal.

They report their finsings in Nano Letters (“Exploring the Fundamental Spatial Limits of Magnetic All-Optical Switching”).

Modern magnetic hard drives can store more than one terabit of data per square inch, which means that the smallest unit of information can be encoded on an area smaller than 25 nanometers by 25 nanometers. In laser-based, all-optical switching (AOS), magnetically encoded bits are switched between their “0” and “1” state with a single ultrashort laser pulse. To realize the full potential of AOS, particularly in terms of faster write/erase cycles and improved power efficiency, we thus need to understand whether a magnetic bit can still be all-optically reversed if its size is on the nanoscale.

Gold nanoparticles have been the subject of intense research for several decades due to their interesting applications in fields such as catalysis and medicine. “Surface ligands” are organic molecules typically present on the surface of gold nanoparticles. During synthesis, these surface ligands play an important role in controlling the size and shape of the nanoparticles.

For several decades, the CIC biomaGUNE team led by Ikerbasque Research Professor Luis Liz-Marzán has studied in detail the growth mechanisms and properties of these nanoparticles. Despite numerous advances that have recognized the importance of surface ligands, many questions remain about their exact behavior during and after growth. Direct observation of surface ligands and their interface with gold nanoparticles has therefore been a long-standing goal for many scientists in this field.

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) is the technique most widely used to investigate nanoparticles. However, the study of surface ligands by means of TEM presents significant challenges; the reason is that the ligands are sensitive to the electron beam, their contrast is limited and their structure in vacuum differs from their native state in solution.

Scientists at the University of Konstanz in Germany have advanced ultrafast electron microscopy to unprecedented time resolution. Reporting in Science Advances, the research team presents a method for the all-optical control, compression, and characterization of electron pulses within a transmission electron microscope using terahertz light. Additionally, the researchers have discovered substantial anti-correlations in the time domain for two-electron and three-electron states, providing deeper insight into the quantum physics of free electrons.

Ultrafast electron microscopy is a cutting-edge technique that combines the spatial resolution of traditional electron microscopy with the temporal resolution of ultrafast femtosecond laser pulses. This powerful combination allows researchers to observe atoms and electrons in motion, capturing dynamic processes in materials with unparalleled clarity. By visualizing these rapid events in space and time, scientists can gain deeper insights into the fundamental mechanisms that govern material properties and transitions, helping to create advancements in research fields such as nanotechnology, optics, materials science, and quantum physics.

Although ultrafast electron microscopy enables, in principle, the observation of atomic and electronic motions on fundamental spatial and temporal scales, capturing these rapid dynamics has remained challenging due to the limitations in electron pulse duration. The current standard electron pulses, lasting about 200 femtoseconds, are too long to resolve many fundamental reaction processes in materials and molecules. Pulses ten times shorter would be required to observe basic reaction paths and collective atomic motions, so-called phonon modes, in real time.

Researchers have identified new characteristics of layered low-dimensional materials that enable rapid transfers of electrons and thermal energy, pointing to potential improvements in ultrafast optical technologies and various other applications.

In a collaborative work in the Dynacom framework (French Japanese Laboratory), recent studies have highlighted that materials composed of layered tubes, which are atomically thick and classified as low-dimensional materials, exhibit new properties. Although the static properties of these structures, such as electrical conduction, are well documented, their dynamic properties, including electron transfer between layers and atomic motion triggered by light exposure, have received less attention.

In this study, scientists constructed nested cylindrical structures by wrapping carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in boron nitride nanotubes. They then examined the motion of electrons and atoms induced by ultrashort light pulses on a one-dimensional (1D) material. Electron motion was monitored using broadband ultrafast optical spectroscopy, which captures instantaneous changes in molecular and electronic structures due to light irradiation with a precision of ten trillionths of a second (10⁻¹³ s). Atomic motion was observed through ultrafast time-resolved electron diffraction, which similarly achieved monitoring of structural dynamics with ten-trillionth-of-a-second accuracy.