Showing Spotlights 33 - 40 of 155 in category All (newest first):
A major challenge for nanophotonics engineers is the wide range of optical responses that metamaterials and other nanoplasmonic structures can generate. In the past few years, machine learning has emerged as a powerful tool for sifting through this vast universe of possible design parameters to aid the design of nanophotonic devices tailored for specific applications. A novel approach uses a type of neural network called a mixture density network to solve the non-uniqueness problem of machine learning algorithms, while also improving accuracy.
Sep 17th, 2020
Researchers have fabricated photodetectors on paper by mimicking the action of drawing/writing with a pencil on standard paper. The results indicate that this process can be employed with other layered materials like the semiconducting molybdenum disulfide to fabricate electronic devices on paper. There are many layered materials (so called van der Waals materials) that have similar mechanical properties to graphite and thus are susceptible of being cleaved upon mechanical rubbing against paper substrates.
Jul 23rd, 2020
The structure of individual molecules and their properties, such as chirality, are difficult to monitor in real time. It turns out that temporarily bridging molecules together can provide a lens into their dynamics. Scientists now have exposed new pathways for investigating biochemical reactions at the nanoscale. They found that optoplasmonic coupling allows for the detection of biomolecules that approach nanoparticles, while they attach, detach, and interact in a variety of ways. The technique paves the way for many future single-molecule analysis techniques that researchers have only been dreaming about.
May 6th, 2020
Similar to the way painters mix different hues and tones of colors on their palette, researchers demonstrated a method for continuous mixing of different structural colors at the nanoscale on a single pixel. This novel method for structurally generating and mixing vivid colors additively is based on interleaved rectangular lattices of metallic nanoparticles. This coloring approach offers a large individual control over the chromaticity and luminance of the generated colors.
Feb 18th, 2020
Electronic transitions between confined states within a quantum well are widely used in optoelectronics. Familiar examples include quantum cascade lasers and quantum well infrared photodetectors, which can operate in a wide range of wavelengths, from the far- to near-infrared. There is growing interest in studying this phenomenon because it may enable novel devices such as polariton lasers and because the physics of ISB polaritons is relatively unexplored. Researchers now demonstrated that it is possible to study polaritons in a single isolated nanoantenna.
Jun 18th, 2019
Electronic device versions of the human eye's photoreceptors could potentially be used in a wide range of applications from robotic humanoid vision to artificial retina implantation for vision restoration or even vision extension into a wider range of wavelength. Researchers have now demonstrated that high-performance filterless artificial human photoreceptors can be realized by integrating a novel optical metal/dielectric/metal microcavity structure with vacuum-deposited perovskite photoresponse devices. These easy-to-fabricate artificial photosensors mimic the spectral responses of human color cones and rods.
May 1st, 2019
Researchers demonstrate, for the first time, a tellurium@selenium (Te@Se) heterostructure used as a working material in a photoelectrochemical-type photodetector. Specifically, Te@Se nanotube heterojunctions synthesized by epitaxial growth of selenium on tellurium nanotubes exhibit a largely enhanced self-powered photoresponse, significantly improved photocurrent density, and photoresponsivity compared to those of Te or Se nanomaterials.
Apr 25th, 2019
Terahertz (THz) frequencies, which occupy a middle ground between microwaves and infrared light, are seen as the future of wireless communications because they offer a higher bandwidth capacity for data transmission than currently used microwave radiation. Researchers have improved the photoconductive switch, a key optoelectronic element in THz technology, with a perfectly-absorbing photoconductive metasurface. The perfect absorption within this metasurface allows to make the active region of THz wave detectors significantly thinner in comparison to conventional detectors. Apart from reducing the size of THz detectors, it also improves their efficiency.
Apr 24th, 2019
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