News by Subject Technology & Engineering

While the charge and spin properties of electrons are widely utilized in modern day technologies such as transistors and memories, another aspect of the subatomic particle has long remained uncharted. This is the 'valley' property which has potential for realizing a new class of technology termed 'valleytronics' -- similar to electronics (charge) and spintronics (spin). This property arises from the fact that the electrons in the crystal occupy different positions that are quantum mechanically distinct.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering have utilized computational modeling to mimic such quorum sensing behavior in synthetic materials, which could lead to devices with the ability for self-recognition and self-regulation.

Essential electronic components, such as diodes and tunnel barriers, can be incorporated in single graphene wires (nanoribbons) with atomic precision. The goal is to create graphene-based electronic devices with extremely fast operational speeds. The discovery was made in a collaboration between Aalto University and their colleagues at Utrecht University and TU Delft in the Netherlands.

The target of large, cheap and quick graphene synthesis achieved: 5 x 50 cm2 and beyond.

Magnetic quantum objects in superconductors, so-called 'fluxons,' are particularly suitable for the storage and processing of data bits. Physicists around Wolfgang Lang at the University of Vienna and their colleagues at the Johannes-Kepler-University Linz have now succeeded in producing a 'quantum egg-box' with a novel and simple method. They realized a stable and regular arrangement of hundreds of thousands of fluxons.

Two-dimensional materials that can multitask. That is the result of a new process that naturally produces patterned monolayers that can act as a base for creating a wide variety of novel materials with dual optical, magnetic, catalytic or sensing capabilities.

Scientists at Nagoya University have developed a new way to make stimuli-responsive materials in a predictable manner. They used this method to design a new material, a mixture of carbon nanorings and iodine, which conducts electricity and emits white light when exposed to electricity. The team's new approach could help generate a range of reliable stimuli-responsive materials, which can be used in memory devices, artificial muscles and drug delivery systems, among other applications.