Research

Diagonal hopping by electrons explains superconductivity in cuprate ‘high-temperature’ superconductors, according to researchers associated with the Flatiron Institute in New York. The team used a straightforward two dimensional model, the Hubbard model, and hundreds of hours of supercomputer effort to get results that are close to those found in experiments. “There was tremendous excitement when cuprate superconductors were discovered, but ...

A consortium has demonstrated quantum-based inertial navigation in an aircraft, the first such demonstration to be made public, according to the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). By using quantum-based references in the accelerometers and gyros at the heart of an intertial measurement unit (IMU), it is theoretically possible to maintain absolute accuracy over time as an ...

Seeking more ways to move a robot through complex environments, researchers at Princeton University and North Carolina State University have turned to origami animated by thermally-activated bi-material strips. The body of the snake-like structure is folded from flat sheet using a Kresling pattern, named after Biruta Kresling, an architect that created a number of such folded structures during bio-inspired research ...

Adding a third terminal to an LED can make it 50% faster, according to researchers at the iGaN Lab, led by Professor Haiding Sun at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). They took the idea of driving an LED via a hybrid-T network, which combine ac and dc drive signals, one stage further, building a capacitively-coupled ac ...

The International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory is highlighting the return to earth of a range of projects that have been undertaken in space, in its permanent microgravity research environment. After more than 35 days onboard the International Space Station, SpaceX’s 30th Commercial Resupply Services Mission for NASA successfully splashed back to Earth off the Florida coast earlier this week. ...

Northwestern University engineers have developed an artificial intelligence algorithm for smart robots that gather their own raw data. Dubbed ‘MaxDiff RL’ (maximum diffusion reinforcement learning), “the algorithm’s success lies in its ability to encourage robots to explore their environments as randomly as possible in order to gain a diverse set of experiences”, according to the university. “The algorithm works so ...

Quantum researchers from Sweden and Canada will join forces to find a solution to the problem of cosmic radiation affecting quantum qubits in the world’s deepest located clean room (pictured) two kilometers underground. “We are super excited about this project because it addresses the very important question of how cosmic radiation affects qubits and quantum processors. Gaining access to this ...

Semiconductor research lab Imec has demonstrated wafer-bonding with 400nm pitch copper conductors across the boundary, proposing the technology for logic-on-logic and memory-on-logic wafer stacking within ICs, and for adding back-side power networks to die. Top and bottom wafers bonded by contact at room temperature, and then annealed.  Migrating from the usual square array of wafer-to-wafer interconnects, these are in a ...

Intending to map the ground from small aircraft and drones, researchers in China have made a singe-photon radar. It achieves resolution better than 40cm from 2.1km altitude using around two photons per pixel, in the face of 10,000 daylight noise photons per pixel. Created by the University of Science and Technology of China, the lidar combines three 150mA 1.55μm lasers ...

Scientist in Korea are making fast p-channel amorphous thin-film transistors. “Research progress on p-type amorphous semiconductors has been notably sluggish,” according to the Pohang University of Science and Technology (PosTech). “Despite the widespread adoption of n-type amorphous oxide semiconductors, particularly those based on IGZO [indium gallium zinc oxide] in OLED displays and memory devices, the advancement of p-type oxide materials ...