News by Subject Technology & Engineering

As reported in Advanced Photonics, researchers from Shanghai University and Fudan University developed a general framework and metadevices for achieving dynamic control of THz wavefronts. Instead of locally controlling the individual meta-atoms in a THz metasurface (e.g., via PIN diode, varactor, etc.), they vary the polarization of a light beam with rotating multilayer cascaded metasurfaces.

Houston Methodist Neurological Institute researchers from the department of neurosurgery shrunk a deadly glioblastoma tumor by more than a third using a helmet generating a noninvasive oscillating magnetic field that the patient wore on his head while administering the therapy in his own home. The 53-year-old patient died from an unrelated injury about a month into the treatment, but during that short time, 31% of the tumor mass disappeared. The autopsy of his brain confirmed the rapid response to the treatment.

An international physics team with the participation of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has proposed a new concept that may allow selected cosmic extreme processes to be studied in the laboratory in the future. A special setup of two high-intensity laser beams could create conditions similar to those found near neutron stars, for example. An antimatter jet is generated and accelerated very efficiently, as the experts report in the journal Communications Physics (DOI: 10.1038/s42005-021-00636-x).

MIT physicists have observed signs of a rare type of superconductivity in a material called "magic-angle" twisted trilayer graphene. They report that the material exhibits superconductivity at surprisingly high magnetic fields of up to 10 Tesla, which is three times higher than what the material is predicted to endure if it were a conventional superconductor.

Scientists show for the first time that 'stealth' coronal mass ejections, a type of solar storm, can be detected early on the Sun's surface. This could help put measures in place that limit damage to technology and energy grids on Earth from the electromagnetic radiation. The new techniques can be implemented immediately, and their power to forecast risky events will become even greater once the new Solar Orbiter and similar spacecraft become fully operational.

Scientists at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley have created an ultrathin magnet that operates at room temperature. The ultrathin magnet could lead to new applications in computing and electronics - such as high-density, compact spintronic memory devices - and new tools for the study of quantum physics.

Two-dimensional "nanosheets" made of bonds between metal atoms and organic molecules are attractive candidates for photoelectric conversion, but get corroded easily. In a new study, scientists from Japan and Taiwan present a new nanosheet design using iron and benzene hexathiol that exhibits record stability to air exposure for 60 days, signaling the commercial optoelectronic applications of these 2D materials in the future.

Although a very promising solution for capturing solar energy, perovskite solar cells contain lead, which is toxic to the environment and a serious health hazard. EPFL scientists have now found a very elegant and efficient solution by adding a transparent phosphate salt that doesn't interfere with light-conversion efficiency while preventing lead from seeping into the soil in cases of solar panel failure.