Lifeboat Foundation

A new method enables precise nanofabrication inside silicon using spatial light modulation and laser pulses, creating advanced nanostructures for potential use in electronics and photonics.

Silicon, the cornerstone of modern electronics, photovoltaics, and photonics, has traditionally been limited to surface-level nanofabrication due to the challenges posed by existing lithographic techniques. Available methods either fail to penetrate the wafer surface without causing alterations or are limited by the micron-scale resolution of laser lithography within Si.

In the spirit of Richard Feynman’s famous dictum, ‘There’s plenty of room at the bottom’, this breakthrough aligns with the vision of exploring and manipulating matter at the nanoscale. The innovative technique developed by the Bilkent team surpasses current limitations, enabling controlled fabrication of nanostructures buried deep inside silicon wafers with unprecedented control.

Nanotechnology is an exciting new area in science, with many possible applications in medicine. This article seeks to outline the role of different areas such as diagnosis of diseases, drug delivery, imaging, and so on.

Researchers develop methods to dramatically increase light emission from nitrogen-vacancy centers in nanodiamonds, advancing quantum sensing and bioimaging applications.

Small-angle scattering (SAS) is a powerful technique for studying nanoscale samples. So far, however, its use in research has been held back by its inability to operate without some prior knowledge of a sample’s chemical composition. Through new research published in The European Physical Journal E, Eugen Anitas at the Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics in Dubna, Russia, presents a more advanced approach, which integrates SAS with machine learning algorithms.

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A scalable nanophotonic electron accelerator with a high particle acceleration gradient and good beam confinement achieves an energy gain of 43%.

Ferromagnetism is an important physical phenomenon that plays a key role in many technologies. It is well-known that metals such as iron, cobalt and nickel are magnetic at room temperature because their electron spins are aligned in parallel — and it is only at very high temperatures that these materials lose their magnetic properties.

Researchers led by Professor Richard Warburton of the Department of Physics and the Swiss Nanoscience Institute of the University of Basel have shown that molybdenum disulfide also exhibits ferromagnetic properties under certain conditions. When subjected to low temperatures and an external magnetic field, the electron spins in this material all point in the same direction.

In their latest study, published in the journal Physical Review Letters (“Exchange energy of the ferromagnetic electronic ground state in a monolayer semiconductor”), the researchers determined how much energy it takes to flip an individual electron spin within this ferromagnetic state. This “exchange energy” is significant because it describes the stability of the ferromagnetism.

Engineers at EPFL have developed a device capable of transforming heat into electrical voltage efficiently at temperatures even colder than those found in outer space. This breakthrough could significantly advance quantum computing technologies by addressing a major obstacle.

To perform quantum computations, quantum bits (qubits) need to be cooled to temperatures in the millikelvin range (close to-273 degrees Celsius) to reduce atomic motion and minimize noise. However, the electronics used to control these quantum circuits generate heat, which is challenging to dissipate at such low temperatures. Consequently, most current technologies must separate the quantum circuits from their electronic components, resulting in noise and inefficiencies that impede the development of larger quantum systems beyond the laboratory.

Researchers in EPFL’s Laboratory of Nanoscale Electronics and Structures (LANES), led by Andras Kis, in the School of Engineering have now fabricated a device that not only operates at extremely low temperatures, but does so with efficiency comparable to current technologies at room temperature.

Purdue University material engineers have created a patent-pending process to develop ultrahigh-strength aluminum alloys that are suitable for additive manufacturing because of their plastic deformability.

Haiyan Wang and Xinghang Zhang lead a team that has introduced transition metals cobalt, iron, nickel and titanium into aluminum via nanoscale, laminated, deformable intermetallics. Wang is the Basil S. Turner Professor of Engineering and Zhang is a professor in Purdue’s School of Materials Engineering. Anyu Shang, a materials engineering graduate student, completes the team.

“Our work shows that the proper introduction of heterogenous microstructures and nanoscale medium-entropy intermetallics offers an alternative solution to design ultrastrong, deformable aluminum alloys via additive manufacturing,” Zhang said. “These alloys improve upon traditional ones that are either ultrastrong or highly deformable, but not both.”

Up to 3% of people with diabetes have an allergic reaction to insulin. A team at Forschungszentrum Jülich has now studied a method that could be used to deliver the active substance into the body in a masked form—in the form of tiny nanoparticles.

The insulin is only released in the target organ when the pH value deviates from the slightly alkaline environment in the blood. The molecular transport system could also serve as a platform for releasing other drugs in the body precisely at the target site.

It’s an old dream in pharmacy: To deliver an active ingredient to the exact place in the body where it is most needed—a cancer drug, for example, directly to the tumor tissue. This minimizes its side effects on other organs and ensures that it has its maximum effect at its target.