Tech

Worldwide growing data volumes make conventional electronic processing reach its limits. Future information technology is therefore expected to use light as a medium for quick data transmission also within computer chips. Researchers under the direction of KIT have now demonstrated that carbon nanotubes are suited for use as on-chip light source for tomorrow's information technology, when nanostructured waveguides are applied to obtain the desired light properties. The scientists now present their results in Nature Photonics. DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON. 2016.70

Conventional 3D displays, such as stereo displays with glasses and glass-free autostereoscopic displays, show two-dimensional images for each eye. Therefore, users experience incongruity and eyestrain owing to these pseudo-3D images. A holographic display produces an exact copy of the wave front of scattered light from an object, and hence, a realistic 3D display is expected. Holographic displays can reconstruct realistic 3D images, thereby eliminating the need for special glasses.

RICHLAND, Wash. - An unexpected discovery has led to a rechargeable battery that's as inexpensive as conventional car batteries, but has a much higher energy density. The new battery could become a cost-effective, environmentally friendly alternative for storing renewable energy and supporting the power grid.

A team based at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory identified this energy storage gem after realizing the new battery works in a different way than they had assumed. The journal Nature Energy published a paper today that describes the battery.

Liquid crystals, discovered more than 125 years ago, are at work behind the screens of TV and computer monitors, clocks, watches and most other electronics displays, and scientists are still discovering new twists--and bends--in their molecular makeup.

Erosion after severe wildfires can be the dominant force shaping forested mountainous landscapes of the U.S. Intermountain West, suggests a new research paper by two University of Arizona geoscientists.

The study is the first to assess the impact of wildfires on such landscapes by combining several different ways to measure short-term and long-term erosion rates, said study co-author Jon Pelletier, a UA professor of geosciences.

Converting a single photon from one color, or frequency, to another is an essential tool in quantum communication, which harnesses the subtle correlations between the subatomic properties of photons (particles of light) to securely store and transmit information. Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have now developed a miniaturized version of a frequency converter, using technology similar to that used to make computer chips.

One way to feed the globe's growing population is to ramp up intensive farming in tropical regions, but doing so will require a lot of fertilizer -- particularly phosphorus. This is not only because it is often present at very low levels in tropical soils, but also because many of these soils bind added phosphorus fertilizer, making it less available to crops.

From the Amazon to Africa, tropical regions are widely expected to play a growing role in supplying food to the world. With global population on the rise, many policy experts and conservationists see agricultural intensification as a winning strategy to produce more food per acre while sparing tropical forests from being converted to farmland. Just pour on the fertilizer.

Using animal tissue samples--store-bought pork loin and beef liver--researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated the possibility of real-time video-rate data transmission through tissue for in-body ultrasonic communications with implanted medical devices.

Physicists have discovered radical new properties in a nanomaterial which opens new possibilities for highly efficient thermophotovoltaic cells, which could one day harvest heat in the dark and turn it into electricity.

The research team from the Australian National University (ARC Centre of Excellence CUDOS) and the University of California Berkeley demonstrated a new artificial material, or metamaterial, that glows in an unusual way when heated.

Researchers from the University of Southampton (UK), and the Institut d'Optique in Bordeaux (France) have devised a new approach for controlling light in a silicon chip by bringing the concept of spatial light modulation to integrated optics.

Silicon photonics are forming the backbone of next-generation on-chip technologies and optical telecommunication, which are aimed at a wide range of emerging applications including optical interconnects, microwave photonic circuits, and integrated optical sensors.

Researchers at the University of Bath have developed an innovative miniature fuel cell that can generate electricity from urine, creating an affordable, renewable and carbon-neutral way of generating power.

In the near future this device could provide a means of generating much needed electricity to remote areas at very little cost, each device costs just £1-£2. With growing global pressures to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and the associated greenhouse gas emissions, microbial fuel cells could be an exciting alternative.

RMIT University researchers have trialled a quantum processor capable of routing quantum information from different locations in a critical breakthrough for quantum computing.

The work opens a pathway towards the "quantum data bus", a vital component of future quantum technologies.

A team of the Lomonosov Moscow State University scientists and the Belarusian National Technical University has created a unique laser, which is a compact light source with wavelengths harmless to the human eye. The development can be used in medicine, communications systems and also in research. The works are published in Journal of Crystal Growth and Optics Letters.

A group of researchers from Japan has examined how the hold position of a red blood cell affects its mechanical characteristics in tensile tests.