Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers are developing a technique that uses the special synchrotron X-ray light from the Swiss Light Source SLS to non-destructively digitize recordings from high-value historic audio tapes—including treasures from the Montreux Jazz Festival archive, such as a rare recording of the King of the Blues, B.B. King.

Magnetic tapes have almost completely disappeared from our lives and now only enjoy a nostalgic niche existence. However, significant quantities of these analog magnetic media are still stored in the archives of sound studios, radio and TV stations, museums, and private collections worldwide. Digitizing these tapes is an ongoing challenge as well as a race against time, as the tapes degrade and eventually become unplayable.

Sebastian Gliga, physicist at PSI and expert in nanomagnetism, and his team are developing a method to non-destructively digitize degraded audio tapes in the highest quality using X-ray light. To achieve this goal, they have been collaborating with the Swiss National Sound Archives, which has produced custom-made reference recordings and provided audio engineering know-how. Now, a partnership with the Montreux Jazz Digital Project will help to further develop and test the method.

Scientists at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have introduced a groundbreaking concept known as “supercritical coupling,” which significantly boosts the efficiency of photon upconversion. This innovation not only overturns existing paradigms but also opens a new direction in the control of light emission.

Photon upconversion, the process of converting low-energy photons into higher-energy ones, is a crucial technique with broad applications, ranging from super-resolution imaging to advanced photonic devices. Despite considerable progress, the quest for efficient photon upconversion has faced challenges due to inherent limitations in the irradiance of lanthanide-doped nanoparticles and the critical coupling conditions of optical resonances.

The concept of “supercritical coupling” plays a pivotal role in addressing these challenges. This fundamentally new approach, proposed by a research team led by Professor LIU Xiaogang from the NUS Department of Chemistry and his collaborator, Dr Gianluigi ZITO from the National Research Council of Italy, leverages on the physics of “bound states in the continuum” (BICs). BICs are phenomena that enable light to be trapped in open structures with theoretically infinite lifetimes, surpassing the limits of critical coupling. These phenomena are different from the usual behavior of light.

Israeli scientists have made yet another cancer treatment breakthrough, this time using nanosized polymers. Researchers from Ben Gurion University say they developed a way to selectively deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to blood vessels that feed tumors and metastases.

The polymer eliminates colorectal cancer liver metastases and prolongs mice survival, after a single dose-therapy, they said. The findings were published in Nano Today, a leading journal in the field of nanotechnology.

A nanosized polymer is a polymer that has been engineered to have dimensions in the nanometer range. By comparison, a human hair is about 80,000–100,000 nanometers wide. These tiny particles offer unique properties that make them desirable for a wide range of applications.

Remarkable advance in protein engineering wherein Huddy et al.

A study describes an approach using designed building blocks that are far more regular in geometry than natural proteins to construct modular multicomponent protein assemblies.

Abstract: By harnessing the power of composite polymer particles adorned with gold nanoparticles, a group of researchers have delivered a more accurate means of testing for infectious diseases.

Details of their research was published in the journal Langmuir.

The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the need for fast and reliable infectious disease testing in large numbers. Most testing done today involves antigen-antibody reactions. Fluorescence, absorptions, or color particle probes are attached to antibodies. When the antibodies stick to the virus, these probes visualize the virus’s presence. In particular, the use of color nanoparticles is renowned for its excellent visuality, along with its simplicity to implement, with little scientific equipment needed to perform lateral flow tests.

Quantum electronics represents a significant departure from conventional electronics. In traditional systems, memory is stored in binary digits. In contrast, quantum electronics utilizes qubits for storage, which can assume various forms, including electrons trapped in nanostructures known as quantum dots. Nonetheless, the ability to transmit information beyond the adjacent quantum dot poses a substantial challenge, thereby limiting the design possibilities for qubits.

Now, in a study recently published in Physical Review Letters, researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo are solving this problem: they developed a new technology for transmitting quantum information over perhaps tens to a hundred micrometers. This advance could improve the functionality of upcoming quantum electronics.

Self-assembled semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) represent a three-dimensional confined nanostructure with discrete energy levels, which are similar to atoms. They are capable of producing highly efficient and indistinguishable single photons on demand and are important for exploring fundamental quantum physics and various applications in quantum information technologies. Leveraging traditional semiconductor processes, this material system also offers a natural integration-compatible and scalable platform.

Two scientists at the Swiss Laboratory of Nanoscience for Energy Technologies in the School of Engineering may have hit upon a way to simultaneously produce clean water and clean electricity, all with zero pollution.

Giulia Tagliabue, the head of the laboratory, and Tarique Anwar, a PhD student, focused their research on hydrovoltaic effects, which can harness the power of evaporation to provide a continuous flow of energy in order to harvest electricity using specialized nanodevices.

Continue reading “Scientists make ‘major finding’ with nanodevices that can seemingly produce energy out of thin air: ‘Contradicting prior understanding’” »

A recently tenured faculty member in MIT’s departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Kim has made numerous discoveries about the nanostructure of materials and is funneling them directly into the advancement of next-generation electronics.

His research aims to push electronics past the inherent limits of silicon — a material that has reliably powered transistors and most other electronic elements but is reaching a performance limit as more computing power is packed into ever smaller devices.

Today, Kim and his students at MIT are exploring materials, devices, and systems that could take over where silicon leaves off. Kim is applying his insights to design next-generation devices, including low-power, high-performance transistors and memory devices, artificial intelligence chips, ultra-high-definition micro-LED displays, and flexible electronic “skin.” Ultimately, he envisions such beyond-silicon devices could be built into supercomputers small enough to fit in your pocket.