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.

MIT Solar Thermophotovoltaic System Increase Solar Cell Efficiency Up To 80%

Researchers at MIT have developed a solar cell that is much more efficient than current solar photovoltaic cells. Using nanotechnology and material technology, the new cell captures a broader spectrum of light compared to a regular solar cell and transforms these into energy. This development can increase solar power output past current efficiency limits.

By adding an absorber-emitter device between photovoltaic cell and sunlight, the other undetected wavelengths of light is also converted into electricity through heat. Carbon nanotubes and photonic crystals are used as material for the absorber-emitter device.

Photovoltaic cells are solid state electrical devices that convert the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect (using light to convert to energy).

The present maximum theoretical efficiency of a solar cell is 33.70%. This is known as the Shockley-Queisser limit. With the new developed solar cell, the researchers believe once the technology is fully develop, it can break the limit and hit an efficiency rating of well over 80%.

Frontiers In Science News Bits - From Bees to Comic Books

Frontiers is one of the worldwide publisher of Open Access journals and publications. Formed in 2007 by scientists, it is based in Switzerland and is a partner of Nature Publishing Group. The mission of Frontier is to "empower all academic communities to drive research publishing and communication into the 21st century with Open Science tools".

The "Frontiers in" series of journals is published with the help of scientific organizations such as the Max Planck Society and the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS). The series publishes around 500 peer-reviewed articles each month with the help of over 25,000 editors and reviewers.

Around five million views of its articles are recorded monthly by Frontiers. The following are some of the latest articles featured in Frontiers.

• Bees Have The Ability To Count
• Navigating Comic Books
• Electronic Control Devices and Law Enforcement
• Artificial Neural Connections and The Treatment of Spinal Cord Injuries

Latest Studies and Developments in Lithium Ion Battery Technology Presented at American Chemical Society Meet

Lithium Ion batteries are used in most, if not all, electronic devices. Li-ion batteries can be made up of a single battery unit or made up of several units called cells.

Lithium ion batteries are the most popular type of batteries for electronics and even in electric cars because of its long battery life and performance. This is due to to their energy density slow loss of charge when not in use.

The American Chemical Society as part of the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society had several presentations on the study and resulting developments in lithium ion battery technology. Various scientific and educational organizations presented their studies during the event.

Abstracts of these studies are enumerated below and in separate articles (see related links).

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.

Science of Terradynamics Opens up Possibility of Developing Walking Robots on Mars

Terradynamic researchers are developing small legged robots that someday may be used in scouting missions regardless of the surface. These robots are perfect for use in scouting missions as well as in exploration in environments such as Mars.

For years, robots have been imagined to be human like. Most science fiction movies have even featured androids; robots that resemble humans. But one big hurdle is the development of legs.

Most robots used now use wheels to move on surfaces. Having "legs" to travel allows robots to travers difficult surfaces such as sandy environments. Sand can clog up wheel mechanisms and hinder movement.

By developing other ways for robots to move around may develop more applications that are now limited because of factors such as sandy environments.

High Rate of Microbial Activity Found in the Deepest Place on Earth

Two years after sending an underwater robot to the deepest place of the Earth's surface, an international team has released their scientific findings on the Mariana Trench.

The deepest part of the Earth is the Mariana Trench. At the deepest point, the measured depth is 11 kilometers (6.8 miles).

The Mariana Trench is located at the western Pacific Ocean along the east side of the Mariana Islands. There have been four descents into the trench. The first was achieved on 23 January 1960. The fourth most recent descent into the Trench was on 26 March by film director James Cameron (see embedded video). He reached the bottom of the trench in his vessel, The Deepsea Challenger.

90% of ocean life lives 660 feet from the ocean surface. Despite the depth, lack of sunlight (sunlight stops penetrating the ocean at around 3,300 feet), and intense pressure, life can still be found past 660 feet.

In July 2011, dropcams (untethered landers with digital video cameras and lights) found giant 4 inch sized single-celled amoebas belonging to the class Xenopyhophores living in the seabed of the Mariana Trench.

In a separate experiment, an underwater robot was sent to the bottom of the trench in 2010 to study the environment and study the seabed. After more than two years, the team that sent the robot has released their scientific findings.

DNA Nanotechnology: Building Matter and Controlling Architecture of DNA Building Blocks

Chad A. Mirkin of Northwestern University has developed a process to build artificial nanostructures with customized properties in a highly programmable way from the bottom up, just like how nature does it.

Advances in nanotechnology have opened up the development and application of artificial nanostructures. Nanostructures give support, assist in a process, or brings out a particular property from a created device.

There are two types of nanostructures, structural and dynamic. Structural nanostructures are used as a foundation for building more complex structures. Dynamic structures are built to react and interact with a specific target in a chemical or structural way.

Just like Lego building blocks, nanostructures can be made up of smaller structures. Each component either contributes to the overall application or serves as the backbone of the structure itself.

These are very useful in many applications. In the medical field, nanostructures can be used as a container for drug delivery. These structures can be built to react to a certain protein and release the drug inside for treatment of diseases such as cancer or Alzheimer's Disease.

Nanostructures can also be applied to industrial purposes. Recently, MIT researchers have created a nanostructure surface that influence the way water droplets behave on condensers for more efficient performance.

Spintronic 3D Microchip Developed

A new type of microchip based on spintronic technology was created that not only moves information from left to right and back to front, but up and down as well.

In electronics, semiconductors utilize the electrical charge carried by the electron. It carries either a positive charge or negative charge. Information is based on the charge of these electrons.

Aside from the electrical charge, electrons also has another property; its spin. The spin of an electron makes it behave like a bar magnet. It either points up or down. Spintronic technology takes advantage of this property to add one more component in storing information in an electron. Aside from the charge which could either be positive or negative, it can also carry information based on the spin which is either up or down.

Spintronic devices act according to the following scheme:

1. Information is stored (written) into spins as a particular spin orientation (up or down).
2. The spin, being attached to mobile electrons, carry the information along a wire.
3. The information is read at a terminal.

The spin orientation lasts longer than electron momentum (nanoseconds -10x^-9 compared to femtoseconds -10x^-15). This makes it optimal for applications such as memory storage and magnetic sensors applications.

Because of the efficiency in storing and transmitting information, spintronic based devices are smaller, cheaper, stable and more accurate than existing conventional devices. At the moment, some hard drives use this technology in data storage.

Compact Neutral Particle Accelerator Using Lasers Developed

Highly charged Argon ions (orange) exploding from a nanocluster are reduced to neutrals (blue) in a mm accelerator due to dense excited clusters (green).
Credit: Dr. Rajeev Rajendran, TIFR

Neutral atoms are unaffected by magnetic and electrical fields generated by standard particle accelerators. A new class of accelerators have been developed using lasers to accelerate neutral particles, in this case, Argon ions.

A particle accelerator is a device that accelerate and propel subatomic particles to tremendous speeds. The particles are accelerated to either hit a surface or other particles. Electric fields increase the speed of the particles while magnetic fields control the direction.

There are two kinds of accelerators; linear and circular. Linear accelerators direct a particle 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 screen to light it up and ultimately form the image.

Circular ones let the particle travel round and round in a loop. They are used to collide two particles, each going in opposite directions. The Large Hadron Collider is an example of a circular particle accelerator.

Storing Digital Information in DNA May Be Commercially Viable In The Near Future

Image: extremetech.com

Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) have developed a process that would make storing digital information in DNA commercially viable.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are biological molecules containing genetic information used in the development and function of all known living organisms.

DNA stores information based on the arrangement of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). The sequence of the bases determines how a particular cell or organism is maintained.

The way DNA stores information is similar to that of a computer. Instead of 0s and 1s in computer bits, DNA uses the A,G,C, and T bases. The four bases pair up to form a DNA base pair which is attached to a sugar and a phosphate molecule. The resulting structure from multiple base pairs attached to the sugar/phosphate molecule is the DNA double helix.

Last 2012, Harvard researchers used the four DNA nucleobases as binary markers. They substituted A and C for the digit 0 and the T and G for the digit 1. Whereas in computers, information would come out in 1s and 0s like 00101110011100, DNA encoded information would come out like this: TGAACCTCAAGTAACCTT.

Using this technique, they managed to store 700 terabytes of data in a single gram of DNA. Researchers at EMBL-EBI have managed to develop a process to encode information into DNA using next-generation DNA synthesis and sequencing technologies.

Warm White LED Lamp Using Single Yellow Phosphor Ideal For Indoor Lighting Developed

A warm white LED has been developed by scientists using a single yellow phosphor. This is ideal for indoor lighting as it doesn't give out the usual bright white-blue light current LED lamps do.

Low energy lighting options can be found almost anywhere these days. The two most common are Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) and LED lamps. A 9 watt CFL lighting fixture has an equivalent brightness as that of a regular 45 watt incandescent lamp. An 11 watt CFL is equal to 60 watts and an 18/20 watt lamp will give an equivalent incandescent brightness of 100 watts. They also last 10 to 15 times longer than a regular light bulb, around 15,000 hours. A regular light bulb lasts around 1500 to 2000 hours.

A newer form of low energy lighting is the LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamp. It is a form of solid state lighting. Solid state devices are devices built form solid materials where electrons are are confined entirely within the solid material.

LED lamps can give out light equivalent to a 50 watt halogen lamp at a fraction of the energy needed (around 7 watts). An LED lamp also has a lifespan of around 30,000 to 50,000 hours; twice that of a CFL light bulb. One year has 8,760 hours.

At an average daily use of 5 hours a day, an LED bulb would last around 16 years.

LED bulbs are still more expensive than other available lighting options. But in the long term, the energy savings will compensate for it.

The problem with LED lamps is the color temperature that it gives out. The light of the LED has a bluish white tinge that some people find unsettling.

MIT News: Polymer Film Uses Water Vapor to Harvest Energy and Generate Electricity For Nanodevices

A polymer is a combination of chemical compounds that is made up of repeating structural units (as in a molecular structure). The structure of the polymer dictates it properties.

Polymers are usually associated with plastics. The material used for credit cards is a polymer, as well as PVC plastics and PET water bottles. But polymers can be in any form. Hairspray and mousse is a polymer. Fabrics like spandex are also polymers. While these are synthetic, there are also natural polymers like rubber and amber.

Since these are created at the molecular level, nanotechnology devices rely on polymers for structural, chemical, or containment purposes.

Recent developments that included polymers are microchips created by self assembling polymer; flicker free, bendable, and shatterproof lighting (FIPEL - Field-Induced Polymer Electroluminescent technology); and Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED).

Electricity Generating Polymer Film

MIT engineers have created a new polymer film that can generate electricity by drawing on a ubiquitous source: water vapor.

The new material changes its shape after absorbing tiny amounts of evaporated water, allowing it to repeatedly curl up and down. Harnessing this continuous motion could drive robotic limbs or generate enough electricity to power micro- and nanoelectronic devices, such as environmental sensors.

Quantum Day Top 10 Most Read Articles For 2012

For the past year, Quantum Day has released around 730 articles. Topics range from the reduction of rainfall in tropical forests to stem cell therapy for diabetes.

Quantum Day is recognized as a media outlet by organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), European Southern Observatory (ESO), European Space Agency (ESA), Hubble Space Telescope (HST), American Heart Association (AHA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and other organizations under the AAAS umberella such as the Public Library of Science (PLOS), Science, and various journals and publications.

Some of the topics have received a decent amount of interest while others have been getting regular visits. The articles range from topics such as the reduction of rainfall in tropical forests, various breathtaking and amazing images of space, stem cell therapy, and developments and advances in diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer's.

Here's a list of the top 10 visited articles for Quantum Day

1. What is String Theory?
2. Out of the Blue: A UFO Documentary
3. Portable Handheld Plasma Flashlight Sterilizes and Kills Bacteria in an Instant
4. Deepest Underwater Volcanic Vent Full of Life
5. What is Ultrasound Surgery
6. Engineers Discover New Way To Produce Economic and Efficient Solar Panels
7. The ANDREA Air Purifier: A Cool Green Device
8. What Is The Higgs Boson And Why It Matters
9. Office of Naval Research To Discuss Prototype Electromagnetic Railgun
10. Famous Scientists of the 21st Century

Solar Panel Decals Which Can Be Peeled And Applied To Any Surface

Scientists have developed a solar panel that can be applied to anything from cellphones to business cards. These panels resemble decals that can be peeled and applied on to surfaces like helmets, cellphones, roofs, windows, etc.

Solar panels or solar cells convert light energy, particularly light from the Sun, into electrical energy. Solar energy has been the biggest growing trend in renewable energy. In 2011, investments in alternative and renewable energy reached a high of US$ 257 Billion.

Since sunlight is unlimited and constant, it is a viable source for endless amounts of energy. Solar panels gather energy by taking advantage of how electrons behave when energy is added to it.

At the moment, solar cells are the most affordable and available of the technologies around. Solar panels that generate electricity and provide heating are available commercially. Every year, the solar panel technology increases its efficiency and lowers cost making it more and more viable for use in everyday homes.

Recent developments have ranged from solar paint, solar cells that can be painted on to surfaces, to solar cell fibers that can be woven into cloth.

Silicon Based Photovoltaic (Solar Cell) Fiber Leads To Electricity Generating Fabrics

Optical fiber, thinner than human hair, has been developed with photovoltaic properties which may give rise to fabric that can generate electricity. The fiber which is silicon based acts on the principle of solar cells that convert sunlight into electrical energy.

According to Neils Bohr, using the model of a hydrogen atom, an electron (-) orbits a stationary proton (+) in certain fixed orbits held by an electric force . When an electron jumps to a higher or lower orbit (called a quantum leap), it expends or absorbs energy (in the form of light).

Energy is needed for the electron to jump to a higher orbit where it has higher energy levels. When the electron moves to an orbit closer to the proton, energy is released.

Using this principle, a simplified explanation of how a silicon solar cell works would be that when a silicon solar cell absorbs light from the sun, the electron jumps from a higher orbit to a lower orbit which in turn gives off electrical energy.

A more detailed explanation is featured in the embedded video.

For years, the solar cell has been used to harness the suns energy to produce electrical energy. As technology evolves, solar cells have become much more efficient and cost effective in the alternative-energy industry. In 2011, solar power accounted for a total US$147 billion in investments and generated around 69.7 Gigawatts of energy globally.

Applying Magnetism and Microwave To Bismuth Atoms As Qubits For Quantum Computers

Researchers are looking at Bismuth atoms and nuclei as a source for qubits used in a quantum computer. Using magnetism and microwaves, they find that this process may be the next step to practical quantum computers.

Moore's law states that the processing power of a computer will continue to double every eighteen months. For the last 50 years, the law seems to be the norm. But technology is fast approaching the limit to the number of transistors that can fit into a silicon chip.

The current record for most number of transistors put on a chip is 2 billion.

By the year 2030, Moore's law would have brought computers to the atomic level. This would be the time of quantum computers. The speed and computing power of a quantum computer far surpasses that of present day computers (also called classical computers).

Silicon Anodes For Three Times More Efficient Lithium Ion Batteries Being Developed

Lithium Ion batteries are ubiquitous in the world today. Most, if not all, electronic devices run on lithium ion batteries. Even electric powered cars run on these kind of batteries.

Li-ion batteries are popular because of their proven track record in long battery life and battery performance due to their energy density slow loss of charge when not in use.

These batteries can be used individually or arranged as part of a group of cells to power electric or hybrid vehicles.

Thermodynamics Used To Grow Nanorods Into Superparticles With Precision

Nanorods are a particular shape of nanoparticles. They are elongated and are similar to a hotdog and can range in size from 1 nanometer (nm) to 100nm, where 1nm= 1x10^-9 meters (one-billionth of a meter). Nanoparticles can also form into spheres and flattened sheets.

Nanorods are produced through chemical synthesis. A metal or semiconducting material are combined with several chemicals to produce nanoparticles of that element. They are then subjected to another series of processes to produce the desired shape and filter out unwanted particles.

Because of their shape and size, nanorods interact with light, electricity and magnetic fields differently. They display highly coveted optical, electronic and other properties not found in macroscopic materials.

CERN Celebrates Its 58th Anniversary Bringing Humanity to the Forefront of Science and the Universe

CERN or the European Organization for Nuclear Research celebrates its 58th anniversary this year. Originally, CERN stood for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European Council for Nuclear Research).

In July 1953, 12 member states established the CERN convention. They envisioned creating a European laboratory focused on atomic physics which would unite European scientists together and also share in the cost of maintaining such a facility.

The 12 founding member states were Belgium, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia. On 29 September 1954, CERN was ratified and the facility was renamed to its present name, The European Organization for Nuclear Research. Despite this, the original acronym, CERN, remained.

58 years later, CERN has been in the forefront of science contributing major studies such as the construction of the Large Hadron Collider used in the search for the Higgs-Boson, the creation of the first anti-matter (anti-hydrogen in 1995) and even contributing its technology to solar power panels. These are but a few of the fruits of CERN's research.

Even the World Wide Web was invented in CERN's laboratories by Tim Berners-Lee and a computer created by Steve Jobs. CERN is not only about serious science, they also host an annual film festival showcasing films that deal with science related subjects, the CinéGlobe International Film Festival at CERN.

Simple Beginnings

When the CERN convention was established, the members decided that the lab and research facility will be erected in Geneva. They picked a patch of green fields where, Nobel physicist Felix Bloch laid the first stone of CERN (together with a time capsule) in what then was the largest building site in Europe.

CERN has gone through a lot of changes. It was not the only nuclear and science facilities around. But through it all, it has emerged as the premier nuclear research facility in the 21st century. Until now, they tackle such subjects as faster than light neutrinos, the use of anti-protons for cancer therapy, and even studying the Sun for yet undiscovered particles called axions.

CERN, 58 years later, still delves into Nobel Prize winning research and studies to bring humanity to the forefront of science and the universe.

A Brief History of CERN

At the end of the Second World War, European science was no longer the crème de la crème. Following the example of the now mushrooming international organizations, a handful of visionary scientists imagined creating a European atomic physics laboratory. Raoul Dautry, Pierre Auger and Lew Kowarski in France, Edoardo Amaldi in Italy and Niels Bohr in Denmark were among these pioneers. Such a laboratory would not only unite European scientists but also allow them to share the increasing costs of nuclear physics facilities.