National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Achieves Record Quantum Teleportation Distance

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have "teleported" or transferred quantum information carried in light particles over 100 kilometers (km) of optical fiber, four times farther than the previous record.

The experiment confirmed that quantum communication is feasible over long distances in fiber. Other research groups have teleported quantum information over longer distances in free space, but the ability to do so over conventional fiber-optic lines offers more flexibility for network design. The experiment used photons to transfer the information.

A photon is a single particle of light. It is an elementary particle that exhibits both particle and wave properties; wave–particle duality. The study of photons usually falls under but not limited to quantum mechanics.

Photons have many real world applications. Solar energy cells use photons to convert sunlight to energy. Some systems like the Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) use it to generate images. The mass of photons was one of the factors that lead researchers at CERN in the Large Hadron Collider to help discover the Higgs Particle. Even in science fiction, the photon torpedo or photon gun is part of a spaceship's arsenal.

Hydrogen From Sunlight Through Photoelectrochemical Cell Developed With Record 14% Efficiency

Solar energy is abundantly available globally, but unfortunately not constantly and not everywhere. One especially interesting solution for storing this energy is artificial photosynthesis. This is what every leaf can do, namely converting sunlight to chemical energy. That can take place with artificial systems based on semiconductors as well. These use the electrical power that sunlight creates in individual semiconductor components to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. Hydrogen possesses very high energy density, can be employed in many ways and could replace fossil fuels. In addition, no carbon dioxide harmful to the climate is released from hydrogen during combustion, instead only water. Until now, manufacturing of solar hydrogen at the industrial level has failed due to the costs, however. This is because the efficiency of artificial photosynthesis, i.e. the energy content of the hydrogen compared to that of sunlight, has simply been too low to produce hydrogen from the sun economically.

Photovoltaics (PV) is a method of generating electricity by converting solar radiation (sunlight) into direct current electricity by using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. These semiconductors are also called solar panels and are composed of a group of solar cells containing a photovoltaic material. Materials presently used for photovoltaics include monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium gallium selenide/sulfide. Due to the growing demand for renewable energy sources, the manufacturing of solar cells and photovoltaic arrays has advanced considerably in recent years.

Combining the two processes a photoelectrochemical cell can be produced that will harness sunlight to generate chemical fuel, specifically by splitting water to generate hydrogen.

Entangled Photon Emitter That Fits in Computer Chip Developed

Researchers at the Università degli Studi di Pavia in Italy has developed a component that can generate a steady stream of entangled photons. This device, called a micro-ring resonator, is tiny enough to fit in a standard silicon computer chip.

Entanglement may be the foundation of a new way to connect and transmit information. Entanglement is the mysterious connection between two particles where they interact with each other physically even when separated; regardless of distance. Einstein was quoted as describing this property as 'spooky action at a distance'.

In theory, even if the two photons are galaxies apart, they still interact with each other.

Current entangled photon emitters are too big to fit in a computer chip. The development of this micro-ring resonator is a step forward to secure communications and faster computers.

The resonators are loops etched onto the silicon chip. They can corral and re-emit particles of light as illustrated in the image above of the silicon ring resonator with its access waveguide. In the image, the green wave at the input represents the laser pump, the red and blue wave-packets at the output represent the generated photon pairs, and the infinity symbol linking the two outputs indicates the entanglement between the pair of photons.

Blue Liquid Laser Light Discovered

A new inorganic material using boron hydrides or boranes in a solution that emits laser light in the blue spectral region has been discovered. The discovery was done by researchers at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain's largest public institution dedicated to research and the third largest in Europe.

The newly discovered laser material has a higher degrading resistance making it last longer. Because of this. the borane solution is superior compared to other laser materials commercially available in the blue laser range.

The high resistance to degradation also addresses occupational and environmental impact of these solvents since they are replaced less in the commercial setting.

Liquid laser materials emit laser light similar to its organic rare earth materials like rubies. The light emitted by these have very high energy and are coherent.

Coherent light travels in a straight line without scattering. In comparison, sunlight is incoherent light is it is scattered and not focused on one area or region. A flashlight is also incoherent light and travels in a "cone".

The team of researchers plan to synthesize the boranes solution to emit at other wavelengths (colors), as this would lead to practical applications in dermatology such as tattoo, scar or acne removal, as well as treatments of vascular lesions.

The work is published in Nature Communications

Atomic Force Microscope Manipulate Atoms to Form Smallest Swiss Cross

Researchers from Finland and Japan have formed the smallest Swiss cross using bromide atoms on a sodium chloride surface. The academic journal Nature Communications has published the team's results.

The team used bromine atoms, 20 of them, and positioned these on a sodium chloride surface to form the cross. Using an atomic force microscope, the structure was found to be stable at room temperature. The bromine atoms were exchanged with the chlorine atoms to make the structure; by moving and positioning the single atoms.

It is the first time that systematic atomic manipulation on an insulating surface have been achieved at room temperature. The resulting Swiss cross measures 5.6 nanometers square.

This discovery can lead to the development of next generation electromechanical systems, advanced atomic-scale data storage devices and logic circuits.

Low Cost, High Definition Transparent Display Developed Through Nanotechnology

Researchers from MIT and Harvard departments of Physics, and the US Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center have teamed up to develop a low cost, scalable, and high resolution display system using nanoparticles that can be displayed on transparent glass.

The system works by applying silver nanoparticles on a transparent glass screen. Like a filter, this allows other colors to pass through leaving the color used by the laser projector to show up on the display. The nanoparticles interact with a single color and lets others go through just like regular glass.

As an example, the transparent display in the picture above shows the blue MIT logo on the glass screen but not on the three cups behind it. (Image credit: Chia Wei Hsu and Bo Zhen)

Applications for this technology are varied from flexible and scrollable displays, 3D transparent screens, and even peel-and-stick projection foils. Windows of buildings can be used for advertising as it only entails applying the nanoparticle layer on it.

The transparent display is scalable allowing high definition images to come up even on large displays. It is even inexpensive. The demo unit only cost less than ten dollars to develop.

Scientists Observe Spatial Coherence in Light Absorbed by Organic Nanostructures

This is the experimental setup used to generate femtosecond laser pulses which serve as an ultrafast "flash" for the camera so that very rapid phenomenon can be filmed.
Credit: Simon Gelinas

Physicists observed that artificial organic nanostructures absorb light the same way expensive inorganic materials absorbs light. The absorbed light quickly separates into formed charges over long distances. This can then be used to generate electricity or for chemical reactions like photosynthesis and solar cell technology.

This phenomenon is called spatial coherence. Spatial coherence allows a charge to travel very quickly over several nanometres and escape from its oppositely charged partner.

Using an ultrafast flash camera, scientist filmed femtosecond (10⁻¹⁵ second) laser pulses that formed charges that spread over multiple molecules rather than limiting the charge to a single molecule. By engineering the arrangement of molecules, they managed to adjust the amplification of the charge separation.

This discovery can lead to inexpensive and energy efficient solar cells.

Record 39 Minute Superposition State of Qubit - A Major Breakthrough in Quantum Computer Development

A normally fragile quantum state has been shown to survive at room temperature for a world record 39 minutes by Oxford University researchers. An artistic rendition of a 'bound exciton' quantum state used to prepare and read out information stored in the form of quantum bits.
Credit: © 2013 Stef Simmons with CC BY

Scientists have managed to keep a qubit in a superposition state for 39 minutes. The previous record for maintaining an atom in this state is 2 seconds.

This experiment is a big step forward for quantum computer technology.

Quantum computers are different that current computers (classical computers) in that information is stored in quantum bits (qubits) rather than in binary bits. Classical computers use bits that stores information in either an on or off state. A qubit ,aside from having an on and off state, can be in a superposition state where it can be both 1 and 0 at the same time. Photons, electrons, and atoms have been used in various experiments to serve as qubits.

In this case, the nuclei of a phosphorous atom in silicon was used as a qubit.

This superposition property of qubits is what makes a quantum computer powerful. Calculations and procedures can be done in fewer steps by a quantum computer compared to a classical computer. A calculation that may take 1 million steps for a classical computer to do, can be done in one step for a quantum computer.

Maintaining qubits in a superposition state has been a major obstacle in quantum computer technology. By being able to hold a qubit in this state for 39 minutes is a major breakthrough in the development of practical quantum computers. Long term information storage by qubits can be made possible because of this.

Ultrafast Laser Accelerator Built on a Nanosized Glass Chip Developed by US Dept of Energy and Stanford

SLAC and Stanford scientists used nanofabricated chips of fused silica just three millimeters long to accelerate electrons at a rate 10 times higher than conventional particle accelerator technology.
Credit: Matt Beardsley, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have developed an electron accelerator the size of a grain of rice using nanotechnology and ultrafast lasers.

A particle accelerator accelerates and propels subatomic particles at very high speeds. Electric fields are used to increase their speed while magnetic fields contain and control their direction.

There are two kinds of accelerators; linear accelerators and circular accelerators. A Linear accelerator directs particles from one end to another. They are usually used to hit surfaces of objects with the particles. A cathode ray tube (like the ones in a television screen) can be an example of a linear accelerator. Electrons are sped up and hit the tv screen to form an image.

The circular accelerators allow particles to travel around a loop continously. They are used to collide two particles, each going in opposite directions. The Large Hadron Collider is an example of a circular particle accelerator.

Practical applications for particle accelerators aside from cathode ray tubes, x-ray generators and ion implanters (machines used to manufacture integrated circuits). A new medical technology called proton therapy or particle therapy use particle accelerators in the treatment of cancer.

Thermoelectric Clathrate Material and the Kondo Effect Turns Industrial Waste Heat into Electricity

Clathrates: Tiny cages enclosing single atoms are shown.
Credit: TU Vienna

Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) have developed a material that can turn waste heat generated by machines into electricity using the Kondo effect and clathrates.

Researchers have designed a material that traps cesium atoms inside a lattice structure (clathrate). When the material is exposed to heat, the trapped atoms start vibrating within its lattice 'cage' and electricity is generated. This is due to the Kondo effect.

Named after Jun Kondo, a theoretical physicist from Japan, the Kondo effect describes how the electrical resistance of a metal increases when the temperature is lowered up to a certain point, known as the Kondo temperature.

The current research shows that the Kondo effect can also apply to very high temperatures.

What this means is that applications can be developed that will take advantage of waste heat produced by machines that can turn it into useful electrical energy rather than it being dissipated into the environment.

Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUID) Open Up Practical Applications For Superconductivity

Devices sensitive enough to detect and measure minute changes of magnetic fields, called superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), are opening up practical application of superconductivity outside the laboratory. Some applications that can benefit from using SQUIDs are magnetically levitating (maglev) trains, earthquake detectors, and even solar power cells.

Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered superconductivity in 1911 during an experiment involving mercury and liquid helium. When a material's temperature is reduced to a certain threshold, its electrical resistance falls down to zero and the expulsion of its magnetic fields occur. Materials that can achieve superconductive are metals and ceramic materials.

The temperature at which superconductivity occurs vary from material to material. Mercury, for example, achieves superconductivity when its temperature is lowered to 4.1K.

Without electrical resistance, an electric current can persist indefinitely even without a power source. There is no power loss with superconductors and that any existing power in a superconductive wire will forever flow in it. Superconducting wires can conduct much larger currents than ordinary wire which create much more intense magnetic fields around them.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines, mass spectrometers, and even particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider use superconducting magnets (electromagnets made from coils of superconducting wires.).

Last year, a research team at the University of Toronto induced high temperature superconductivity in a semiconductor by just using ordinary scotch tape.

Nanoplasmonic Bubble Lens Controls Focus and Direction of Light

Credit: Tony Jun Huang, Penn State

Scientists have developed a reconfigurable plasmofluidic lens using nanoplasmonics that can control light waves at the nanoscale. The nanoscale light beam is modulated by surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) which are short electromagnetic waves. The light wave is controlled by the bubble lens which can control the focus and direction of light.

Nanoplasmonics is a new field of science that deals with the behavior of metal particles at the nanoscale and its optical properties. At the nanoscale, light or electromagnetic waves approaches half the size of its wavelength. At this level, the electrical field of light displaces the metal's electrons producing an oscillating field or what is called a surface plasmon. By using certain metal nanoparticles such as gold or silver and manipulating its size and shape, the surface plasmons can be modulated.

Ancient stained glass windows (which contains gold and silver particles) use nanoplasmonic properties to attain its deep vibrant colors when light passes through it.

Currently, manipulating and reconfiguring the focus and direction of these light waves have been difficult. But with the development of reconfigurable plasmofluidic lens, which are essentially tiny bubbles, scientists have found a way to control, switch, and modulate light.

Applications for nanoplasmonics can be found in photovoltaics and optical plasmonic systems. In photovoltaic systems, plasmons can be used to modify the opto-electronic properties for fast photo-detectors and effective photocells. With optical plasmonic systems, devices can be developed that manipulate the optical properties which may lead to the development of inexpensive, fast and small active optical elements.

Possible Variable Fine Structure Constant Tested On A White Dwarf Star

Scientists are using the Hubble Space Telescope and a White Dwarf Star (G191-B2B) to test if the Fine Structure Constant, or alpha (α) is not really constant.

The Fine Structure Constant is defined as the charge of an electron squared over the product of Planck's constant multiplied by the speed of light. The resulting value is 1/137 or 7.2973525698(24)×10⁻³.

This constant shows the probability of an electron absorbing a photon or simply the strength of the electromagnetic force exerted in an interaction. It relates to three important aspects of physics, electromagnetism, relativity, and quantum mechanics (through Planck's constant).

The importance of the Fine Structure Constant (α) relates to the existence of life. If the value of α is not as it is, life or intelligent life as it is now, would not exist. A 4% change in the value of α would mean that stellar fusion would not create carbon, making carbon based life impossible. If α were > 0.1, stellar fusion would be impossible and no place in the universe would be warm enough for life as we know it.

Using a white dwarf star with a gravity 30,000 times more than the Earth, scientists are measuring the strength of the electromagnetic force with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope. They will compare that value to that measured on Earth to determine if the Fine Structure Constant is really not constant and that it varies across the Universe.

Chemical Reactions In Space May Be Due To Quantum Tunnelling

Researchers at the University of Leeds School of Chemistry proposed that chemical reactions in space, particularly on how alcohols are created and destroyed, are due to a quantum mechanical phenomenon, known as 'quantum tunnelling'. Their findings are published in Nature Chemistry.

The cold temperatures in space prohibit chemical reactions to take place but scientists have seen evidence that there are reactions happening despite the sub-zero conditions. The researchers at the University of Leeds have proposed that these reactions occur due to quantum tunnelling.

Quantum tunnelling is a phenomenon in quantum mechanics where particles can pass through objects (tunnel through) to reach the other side. In classical mechanics, an object like a ball will likely bounce back when it hits a wall. Quantum tunnelling dictates that the ball, albeit a very small ball the size of an electron, has a finite probability that it can pass through the wall.

Researchers at Leeds have replicated deep space environment under laboratory conditions and have observed that methanol and hydroxyl radicals react with each other to create methoxy radicals twice as fast than at room temperature.

FLUENCE (Fluid-Enhanced Crystal Engineering) Process Results in 10 Times More Efficient Organic Electronics

A single-crystal organic semiconductor array that is 1mm by 20mm. The neatly-aligned blue strips are what provide greater electric charge mobility. The Stanford logo shown here is the same size as a dime.

A new printing process called FLUENCE (Fluid-Enhanced Crystal Engineering) can generate organic electronic materials that are ten times more conductive than those currently available.

Organic electronics are materials that utilize carbon-based polymers and molecules to build electronic conductors and resistors. Instead of using inorganic materials such as copper and silicon, organic electronics are produced by printing out the material on inexpensive polymeric substrates like polyethylene terephtalate (PET) or polycarbonate (PC) that are cheaper than conventional inorganic components.

Ink jet printers or coating equipment (like those used to produce photographic film) can also be used to print out electronic components one on top of another to produce smaller more compact semiconductors.

Organic electronic products are thin, lightweight, and flexible. These properties have been proven effective in the modern application of electronic devices and gadgets such as touch sensors, display screens, and in solar cells. In solar cells, solar sheeting that are thin and translucent (similar to a plastic sheet) are products of organic electronics. Display screens such as OLED (Organic LED)screens are now used widely in the smartphone and tablet market.

Studying The Weight and Gravitational Behavior of Antimatter

Weighing Antimatter

Physicists at the University of California, Berkeley are studying the difference between matter and antimatter in relation to how it interacts with gravity.

Particles that have the same mass but with the opposite charge and quantum spin are called antimatter. Antimatter was predicted to exist in 1928 through equations by Paul Dirac. The next year, it was first observed by two physicists but considered it an anomaly and was not studied further.

Three years later, in 1932, Carl D. Anderson also observed the same thing in his experiments but instead of treating it as an error, studied it further. Bt using gamma rays, he created an anti-particle; a positively charged electron. Electrons are negatively charged and his discovery proved Dirac was right and antimatter does exist.

Anderson was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1936 for this discovery.

All particles has its antiparticle counterpart. The antiparticle of the electron is the positron. It carries a positive charge rather than a negative one. The proton's version is the anti-proton and it carries a positive charge. Despite the neutron having a neutral charge, there is an antineutron which is made up of antiquarks (the antiparticle of the quark).

Atomic Movement Recorded In Real Time Through Femtosecond Electron Diffraction

Scientists at the University of Toronto were able to observe and record motions of atoms in real time. This is a huge development on the understanding chemistry and biology at the atomic level.

For the first time atomic movement as they undergo chemical transformation has been directly recorded through a process called electron diffraction. As the atoms convert into new structures and adopt new properties, scientists observed and recorded this transitional state as it happens.

For the process to work, an ultrabright femtosecond electron source is used to light up the molecular motions in the organic crystal during its transition phase. Using three key reaction coordinates within the crystal, scientists were able to reconstruct the structural evolution of its molecular system.

Combining the coordinates to make a 3D model and using Femtosecond Electron Diffraction, the duration of the transition and position of the moluecules as well as its reaction trajectory is obtained. (See video)

Three Novel Converters Increases Neutron Detection Efficiency Threefold in Bulk-Micromegas Neutron Detectors

Researchers have developed a technique that results in a threefold increase in neutron detection efficiency.

Neutron detectors are used in various applications. It is used to detect special nuclear materials (SNM) such as Uranium-233 and Plutonium-239.

Special nuclear materials emit neutrons either by fission, alpha-n reactions, or by induced fission. Neutron detectors rely on the interaction of neutrons to various nuclei of matter. Neutrons are neutral and do not interact directly with the electrons in matter. The interaction of the neutron to the nuclei causes the release of a charged particle that can be processed by the detection system.

Aside from detecting special nuclear materials, it is also used in measuring the power in nuclear power and research reactors. Materials science utilize neutron detection in determining the morphology of materials in very small scales (about one micron). Neutron detection also helps in other applications such as particle physics, radiation safety and cosmic ray detection.

The figure above shows A) Micro-channel plate B) Parallel micro-pillar 2D array C) Oblique micro-pillar 2D array. These are the three novel converters proposed by the study.

Linac Coherent Light Source Experiments On Chemical Reactions Lead To Clean Energy Development

New experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source, an X-ray free-electron laser, took an unprecedented look at the way carbon monoxide molecules react with the surface of a catalyst in real time.
Credit: Greg Stewart / SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Ongoing experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source Facility aimed at observing chemical reactions within catalysts may lead into better and more efficient clean energy technologies.

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is a free electron laser facility located at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). A free electron laser (FEL) is a laser that has the same optical properties of a conventional laser but uses a different principle in forming the laser beam. Free electron lasers use an electron beam which moves freely through a magnetic structure. Conventional lasers use electrons in an excited bound atomic or molecular state.

The LCLS uses ultra-fast x-ray pulses 10⁹ times brighter than traditional synchotron (a type of particle accelerator) x-rays. The x-rays are used to image objects at an atomic level. The wavelength generated by the LCLS is close to the width of an atom which allows a very detailed image at a level thought to be impossible.

The X-ray pulses are used much like flashes from a high-speed strobe light, enabling scientists to take stop-motion pictures of atoms and molecules in motion, shedding light on the fundamental processes of chemistry, technology, and life itself.

Using Particle Physics and Geo-Electrons To Probe The Deep Layers of The Earth

The picture depicts the long-range spin-spin interaction (blue wavy lines) in which the spin-sensitive detector on Earth’s surface interacts with geoelectrons (red dots) deep in Earth’s mantle. The arrows on the geoelectrons indicate their spin orientations, opposite that of Earth’s magnetic field lines (white arcs).
Credit: Marc Airhart (University of Texas at Austin) and Steve Jacobsen (Northwestern University).

Researchers have come up with a new technique using particle physics and geo-electrons to find out in great detail what the deep layers of the Earth is made up of and how it behaves.

Scientists for a long time have been trying to understand more about the Earth's core. The surface of the Earth is known as the crust and is around 10 kilometers thick at its thinnest. Below the crust is the mantle and between the mantle and the inner core, it is around 3,000 kilometers. It is impossible by current technologies to even drill past the crust.

In November 2011, Japanese scientist Kei Hirose, used a particle accelerator (the Spring-8 Synchrotron) to recreate the conditions believed to exist at the Earth's core. The experiment suggests that the core is made up of a forest of huge crystals 10 kilometers tall.

Other techniques used to study the Earth's inner layers are by studying the vibrations caused by earthquakes, using x-rays and other imaging techniques, or by mimicking the temperatures and pressures of the deep Earth in laboratories.

Now, researchers from Amherst College and The University of Texas at Austin have developed another technique to solve this geological mystery not by recreating the conditions but by studying electrons found in mantle minerals called geoelectrons.