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05/19/2016 : 119344
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How Researchers Are Rewiring Electronics for the Future
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Posted by Okachinepa on 10/06/2024 @
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit: Haozhe Yang
The Nanodevices group at CIC nanoGUNE, in collaboration with researchers from the Charles University of Prague and the CFM (CSIC-UPV/EHU) center in San Sebastian, has created a novel complex material with novel features in the field of spintronics. This finding, which was reported in the journal Nature Materials, creates a number of new opportunities for the creation of innovative, more effective, and cutting-edge electronic devices, like ones that incorporate CPUs with magnetic memories.
Since two layers of these materials can produce novel effects when layered to form a heterostructure, the discovery of two-dimensional materials with distinctive properties has sparked a surge in study into these materials. It has recently been noted that the characteristics of this heterostructure can be considerably altered by small rotations of these layers.
"We investigated the stacking of two layers of graphene and tungsten selenide (WSe2) in this work," said Félix Casanova, an Ikerbasque Research Professor and co-leader of the Nanodevices group at nanoGUNE, who oversaw the project. "A spin current is generated in a desired specific direction if the two layers are placed one on top of the other and rotated at a precise angle," Félix Casanova continued.
One of the characteristics of electrons and other particles is spin, which is often transferred perpendicular to the direction of the electric current. One of the primary challenges of spintronics, or spin-based electronics that stores, manipulates, and transmits information, is managing these spin currents. But Félix emphasized that "this work shows that this limitation in fact disappears when suitable materials are used."
"By merely stacking two layers and applying a'magic' twist, new spin-related properties that do not exist in the initial materials can be obtained," the study found. "The design possibilities for next-generation devices are greater the more flexibility we have in choosing materials."
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The State of Optical Computing at its Frontier
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Posted by Okachinepa on 10/06/2024 @
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit:2024 Mashiko et AL.
Optical computing shows promise as a means of improving speed and power efficiency as computers become more powerful and energy-intensive due to artificial intelligence and other complicated applications. Its actual application, though, has encountered many difficulties. Diffraction casting is a revolutionary design architecture that attempts to address these problems by presenting novel ideas that may promote the use of optical computing in future technologies.
All modern computing equipment, from the laptop on your desk to the smartphone in your pocket, rely on electronic technology. However, this has certain inherent disadvantages. Specifically, when they perform better, they must inevitably produce a lot of heat. Furthermore, semiconductor fabrication processes are getting close to the outer bounds of theoretical possibilities. Consequently, academics look at other computational approaches that can address these issues and, hopefully, provide some new functionality or features as well.
One potential is optical computing, an idea that has been around for a number of decades but hasn't yet taken off and proved economically feasible. Essentially, light waves' speed and their capacity to interact intricately with various optical materials without producing heat are utilized in optical computing. In principle, this can be combined with the fact that a wide variety of light waves can flow through different materials at the same time without interfering with one another to create a massively parallel, fast, and power-efficient computer.
Researchers in Japan investigated shadow casting, an optical computing technique that could carry out a few basic logical operations, in the 1980s. On the other hand, its execution relied on quite large geometric optical forms, maybe resembling the vacuum tubes used in the first digital computers. Although they were functional in theory, Associate Professor Ryoichi Horisaki of the University of Tokyo's Information Photonics Lab stated they lacked the adaptability and simplicity of integration needed to produce something worthwhile.
We provide diffraction casting, an optical computing technique that outperforms shadow casting. Diffraction casting, on the other hand, is based on the properties of the light wave itself, resulting in more spatially efficient, functionally flexible optical elements that are extensible in ways you'd expect and require for a universal computer. Shadow casting is based on light rays interacting with different geometries. With inputs that were smaller than the icons on a smartphone screen—16 by 16 pixels in black and white—we performed numerical simulations that produced incredibly encouraging results.
Horisaki and his group suggest an all-optical system, meaning that all of the system's stages are optical up until the point at which it is converted to an electronic or digital format. The concept involves using an image as a data source, which implies that this system may be used for image processing. However, other types of data, particularly those used in machine learning systems, may also be graphically represented. Finally, the source image is combined with a number of other images that represent different stages of logic operations.
Consider it analogous to layers in an image-editing program like Adobe Photoshop: An input layer, also known as the source image, can have layers applied on top of it to communicate, modify, or disguise data from the layer below. The combination of these layers essentially processes the output, or top layer. In this instance, light passing through these layers will produce a picture on a sensor (hence the "casting" in diffraction casting), which will then be converted to digital data for user presentation or storage.
It might be best to think of diffraction casting as an addition to current systems rather than their complete replacement, similar to how graphical processing units are specialized parts for workloads related to graphics, gaming, and machine learning. Diffraction casting is just one building block in a hypothetical computer based on this principle, according to lead author Ryosuke Mashiko.
"It will take about ten years to reach the commercial market, as there is still a lot of work to be done on the physical implementation, which is still under construction even though it is based on actual work." We can currently show how effective diffraction casting is in carrying out the sixteen fundamental logic operations that form the basis of most information processing, but there is also room to expand our system into quantum computing, an emerging field of computing that goes beyond the conventional. Time will tell.
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How Lower Temperatures Cause Next-Generation Electronics to Break
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Posted by Okachinepa on 10/04/2024 @
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit: University of Minnesota
Researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have conducted a new study that sheds light on how next-generation electronics, such as computer memory components, malfunction or deteriorate over time. Understanding the reasons for degradation could help enhance efficiency of data storage solutions.
The need for effective data storage solutions is rising as computing technology advances. Promising substitutes for the current generation of memory devices are created by spintronic magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), nanostructured devices that harness the spin of electrons to enhance hard drives, sensors, and other microelectronics systems, including Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM).
With the potential to be used in AI applications to increase energy efficiency, MTJs are the fundamental components of non-volatile memory found in devices like smartwatches and in-memory computing.
Researchers examined the nanopillars—very tiny, transparent layers within the device—in these systems using a high-end electron microscope. To see how the gadget functions, the researchers passed current across it. They were able to watch in real time as the device deteriorates and eventually dies as they raised the current.
First author of the work and postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Sciences at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Hwanhui Yun, said that "real-time transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments can be challenging, even for experienced researchers." But workable samples were reliably generated following dozens of errors and improvements.
By doing this, they found that when a constant current is applied over time, the device's layers become squeezed, leading to malfunctions. Although this has been predicted before, this is the first time the phenomena has been observed by researchers. When a device develops a "pinhole" or the pinch, it is beginning to deteriorate. The contraption melts down and burns out completely as the researchers keep feeding it more and more electricity.
The Ray D. and Mary T. Johnson Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Sciences at the University of Minnesota, professor Andre Mkhoyan, senior author of the paper, said, "What was unusual with this discovery is that we observed this burn out at a much lower temperature than what previous research thought was possible." "The temperature was nearly half of what was previously anticipated."
Researchers discovered that materials that small have radically different properties, including melting temperature, after taking a closer look at the device at the atomic scale. This indicates that the gadget will malfunction entirely and beyond anyone's previous knowledge at a completely new time frame.
"Under real-time working conditions, like applying current and voltage, there has been a great desire to comprehend the interfaces between layers, but no one has attained this degree of understanding previously," stated Jian-Ping Wang, a senior author of the study, Distinguished McKnight Professor, and Robert F. Hartmann Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota.
“We are very happy to say that the team has discovered something that will be directly impacting the next generation microelectronic devices for our semiconductor industry,” Wang added.
The researchers anticipate that by using this knowledge, computer memory units will be designed with greater durability and efficiency.
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Chinese Researchers Reveal the Most Potent Sound Laser in the World
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Posted by Okachinepa on 10/04/2024 @
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit: Chanchung Institute of Optics
Chinese scientists have made great progress toward creating lasers that operate on sound waves rather than light. These "phonon lasers" have the potential to improve deep-sea research, medical imaging, and other fields.
With the new method, the laser's sound waves are produced with much more power and accuracy thanks to a tiny electronic prod. This opens the door for more advanced gadgets that could use sound in a wider variety of ways in the future.
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit: Chanchung Institute of Optics
In the past, the poor fidelity and inaccurate sound waves of phonon lasers composed of small objects limited their practical applications. The novel technique gets around this problem by basically "locking" the sound waves into a stronger, more stable form.
This development opens the door for strong and accurate phonon lasers that may be used in practical settings like deep-sea exploration and medical imaging. Deep-sea vehicles could use enhanced communication and navigation, while phonon lasers could lead to more sensitive and safe medical imaging methods.
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit: Chanchung Institute of Optics
In addition, phonon lasers may find use in quantum computing, material science, and other domains.
The development of phonon lasers has advanced significantly with this research, which could lead to the creation of several new technologies.
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Secrets of Neutron Stars Unlocked by "Mirror" Nuclei
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Posted by Okachinepa on 09/30/2024 @
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit: ESO/L.Calcada
The size of an atomic nucleus can be altered by adding or subtracting neutrons. Isotope shifts are the resultant minute variations in the energy levels of the atom's electrons. Researchers can determine an isotope's nucleus radius by precisely measuring these energy fluctuations.
In this study, the nuclear radii of the stable silicon isotopes silicon-28, silicon-29, and silicon-30 were measured with the aid of a laser. The unstable silicon-32 nucleus, which consists of 14 protons and 18 neutrons, was also measured in terms of radius. The researchers put constraints on variables that aid in describing the physics of astrophysical phenomena like neutron stars using the difference in radius between the silicon-32 nucleus and its mirror nucleus, argon-32, which contains 18 protons and 14 neutrons. The findings represent a significant advancement in nuclear theory, the study of nuclei and their constituent parts.
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit: ESO/L.Calcada
Scientists continue to encounter persistent difficulties in their comprehension of nuclei, even with advancements in nuclear theory. For example, scientists have not made the connection between the strong nuclear force hypothesis and the description of nuclear scale. Furthermore, it's unclear if nuclear theories describing limited atomic nuclei can accurately characterize nuclear matter. The protons and neutrons that make up this unique kind of matter interact with one another. Extremely cold matter, like neutron stars, is considered nuclear matter. These unanswered concerns are addressed in part by precise measurements of charge radii, or the radius of atomic nuclei.
At the BEam COoler and LAser spectroscopy facility (BECOLA) at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University, researchers measured the nuclear radius of several silicon isotopes using laser spectroscopy measurements of atomic isotope shifts. The unstable silicon-32, which has 14 protons and 18 neutrons, as well as the stable silicon isotopes silicon-28, silicon-29, and silicon-30, were measured.
The outcomes offer a crucial reference point for the advancement of nuclear theory. The charge radii difference between the silicon-32 nucleus and its mirror nucleus argon-32, which has 18 protons and 14 neutrons, was utilized to limit parameters needed to characterize the properties of dense neutron matter within neutron stars. The reported results agree with the restrictions from gravitational wave observations and other complementing observables.
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