Secure Communication Between Quantum Computers Implemented: The Quantum Internet Is Within Reach
- Details
- Written by Technische Universität München
- Category
An international team headed by physicists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has, for the first time ever, experimentally implemented secure quantum communication in the microwave band in a local quantum network. The new architecture represents a crucial step on the road to distributed quantum computing. As of yet, there are no universal quantum computers in the world. But for the first time, an international team led by TUM physicists Rudolf Gross, Frank Deppe and Kirill Fedorov has successfully implemented secure quantum communication in a local network – via a 35-centimeter superconducting cable.
News About Drug Delivery
- Details
- Written by Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
- Category
Nanocontainer for drugs can have their pitfalls: If they are too heavily loaded, they will only dissolve poorly. Why this happens is now reported by a Würzburg research group in "Angewandte Chemie". Nanocapsules and other containers can transport drugs through a patient's body directly to the origin of the disease and release them there in a controlled manner. Such sophisticated systems are occasionally used in cancer therapy. Because they work very specifically, they have fewer side effects than drugs that are distributed throughout the entire organism.
Topological Nanoelectronics
- Details
- Written by Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
- Category
Physicists at the University of Würzburg have made a ground-breaking discovery: They have realized a fundamental nanoelectronic device based on the topological insulator HgTe previously discovered in Würzburg. Topological insulators are materials with astonishing properties: Electric current flows only along their surfaces or edges, whereas the interior of the material behaves as an insulator. In 2007, Professor Laurens Molenkamp at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, was the first who experimentally demonstrated the existence of such topological states. His team achieved this seminal work with quantum wells based on mercury and tellurium (HgTe). Since then, these novel materials have been the hope for a fundamentally new generation of components that, for example, promise innovations for information technology.
Deep Inside the Brain: Unraveling the Dense Networks in the Cerebral Cortex
- Details
- Written by Max-Planck-Institut für Hirnforschung
- Category
Mammalian brains, with their unmatched number of nerve cells and density of communication, are the most complex networks known. While methods to analyze neuronal networks sparsely have been available for decades, the dense mapping of neuronal circuits is a major scientific challenge. Researchers from the MPI for Brain Research have now succeeded in the dense connectomic mapping of brain tissue from the cerebral cortex, and quantify the possible imprint of learning in the circuit.
Energy Flow in the Nano Range
- Details
- Written by Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
- Category
It is crucial for photovoltaics and other technical applications, how efficiently energy spreads in a small volume. With new methods, the path of energy in the nanometer range can now be followed precisely. Plants and bacteria lead the way: They can capture the energy of sunlight with light-harvesting antennas and transfer it to a reaction centre. Transporting energy efficiently and in a targeted fashion in a minimum of space – this is also of interest to mankind. If scientists were to master it perfectly, they could significantly improve photovoltaics and optoelectronics.
Always on Beat: Ultrashort Flashes of Light Under Optical Control
- Details
- Written by Universität Bayreuth
- Category
Ultrashort laser pulses have enabled scientists and physicians to carry out high-precision material analyses and medical procedures. Physicists from the University of Bayreuth and the University of Göttingen have now discovered a new method for adjusting the extremely short time intervals between laser flashes with exceptional speed and precision. The intervals can be increased or decreased as needed, all at the push of a button. Potential applications range from laser spectroscopy to microscopy and materials processing. The researchers have now presented their latest findings in the journal Nature Photonics.
Bottom-up Synthesis of Crystalline 2D Polymers: A Dream Finally Comes True
- Details
- Written by Technische Universität Dresden
- Category
Scientists at the Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) at TU Dresden have succeeded in synthesizing sheet-like 2D polymers by a bottom-up process for the first time. A novel synthetic reaction route was developed for this purpose. The 2D polymers consist of only a few single atomic layers and, due to their very special properties, are a promising material for use in electronic components and systems of a new generation. The research result is a collaborative work of several groups at TU Dresden and Ulm University and was published this week in two related articles in the scientific journals "Nature Chemistry" and "Nature Communications".
Wire Laser Material Deposition – a Smart Way to Save Costs
- Details
- Written by Fraunhofer-Institut für Lasertechnik ILT
- Category
Within a BMBF-funded project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT is tackling the issue of 3D printing large components economically by using a new process called Hybrid AM that combines conventional manufacturing with additive processes. An important step forward in this process development is a new wire LMD head and its modular components which the Aachen-based experts will be presenting for the first time at formnext from November 19 to 22, 2019 in Frankfurt am Main.
How to Design Efficient Materials for OLED Displays
- Details
- Written by Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung
- Category
For applications such as light-emitting diodes or solar cells, organic materials are nowadays in the focus of research. These organic molecules could be a promising alternative to currently used semiconductors such as silicon or germanium and are used in OLED displays. A major problem is that in many organic semiconductors the flow of electricity is hampered by microscopic defects. Scientists around Dr. Gert-Jan Wetzelaer and Dr. Denis Andrienko of the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research have now investigated how organic semiconductors can be designed such that the electric conduction is not influenced by these defects.
New Method for the Measurement of Nano-Structured Light Fields
- Details
- Written by Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
- Category
Physicists and chemists at the University of Münster (Germany) have jointly succeeded in developing a so-called nano-tomographic technique which is able to detect the typically invisible properties of nano-structured fields in the focus of a lens. Such a method may help to establish nano-structured light landscapes as a tool for material machining, optical tweezers, or high-resolution imaging. The study was published in "Nature Communications".
The Best of Two Worlds: Magnetism and Weyl Semimetals
- Details
- Written by Max-Planck-Institut für Chemische Physik fester Stoffe
- Category
Imagine a world in which electricity could flow through the grid without any losses or where all the data in the world could be stored in the cloud without the need for power stations. This seems unimaginable but a path towards such a dream has opened with the discovery of a new family of materials with magical properties. These materials – magnetic Weyl semi-metals – are innately quantum but bridge the two worlds of topology and spintronics. Topological materials exhibit strange properties including super-fast electrons that travel without any energy loss.
Motion Pictures from Living Cells: Research Team from Jena and Bielefeld Improves Superresolution Microscopy
- Details
- Written by Leibniz-Institut für Photonische Technologien e. V.
- Category
In order to observe cells at work, researchers have to bypass a physical law. One of the fastest techniques to overcome the resolution limit of classical light microscopy is high-resolution structured illumination microscopy. It makes visible details that are about a hundred nanometres in size. However, translating the data back into images has taken a long time so far. A research team from the University of Bielefeld, the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology and the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena has now developed a technique to observe processes in the cell. The results were published in "Nature Communications" on September 20, 2019.
Highly Sensitive Sensors to Measure the Heart and Brain Activity
- Details
- Written by Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
- Category
Electrical signals measurements such as the ECG (electrocardiogram) can show how the human brain or heart works. Next to electrical signals magnetic signals also reveal something about the activity of these organs. They could be measured with little effort and without skin contact. But the especially weak signals require highly sensitive sensors. Scientists from the Collaboraive research Center 1261 "Magnetoelectric Sensors" at Kiel University have now developed a new concept for cantilever sensors, with the future aim of measuring these low frequencies of heart and brain activity. The extremely small, energy-efficient sensors are particularly well-suited for medical applications or mobile microelectronics. This is made possible by the use of electrets. Such material is permanently electrically charged, and is also used in microphones for hearing aids or mobile phones. The research team presented its sensor concept in a special edition of the renowned journal Nano Energy.
How to Construct a Protein Factory
- Details
- Written by Universität Bern
- Category
The complexity of molecular structures in the cell is amazing. Having achieved great success in elucidating these structures in recent years, biologists are now taking on the next challenge: to find out more about how they are constructed. A joint research project between two groups from the University of Bern and ETH Zurich now provides insight into a very unusual construction process in the unicellular parasite Trypanosoma brucei.
Heat Shields for Economical Aircrafts
- Details
- Written by Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik IWS
- Category
Environmentally friendly: IWS Dresden ceramic coatings can reduce engine exhaust gases
To make aircrafts more economical, environmentally friendly and robust, Fraunhofer engineers from Dresden have developed a new ceramic heat shield technology. In this process, a powder of yttrium-stabilized zirconium oxide (YSZ) is added to water to form a suspension. Quickly and cost-effectively this liquid powder mixture can be sprayed onto turbine blades or other aircraft parts. Such and similar thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) facilitate aircraft engines, which consume less fuel and do not contaminate the atmosphere as much.
Turbine from the 3D Printer
- Details
- Written by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
- Category
Together with the H+E-Produktentwicklung GmbH in Moritzburg, Saxony, the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Dresden has developed a true-to-scale gas turbine that impressively demonstrates the current potentials and limitations of powder bed-based additive technologies. The technology demonstrator "Siemens SGT6-8000 H", a scaled model of a gas turbine for power generation on a scale of 1:25, was completely manufactured with additive processes except for the shaft.
